By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press
A nationwide power outage sparked wild rumors of a weekend coup in Pakistan that were flatly denied Monday by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as he continued a headline-grabbing trip to the U.S.

The speculation, also fueled by the 63-year-old military leader's unannounced visit to a Texas hospital for routine tests with a cardiologist, caused little stir on Pakistani streets, but the story was carried on most front pages here Monday.

"Outage sparks coup rumors," read a headline in the respected Dawn daily.

Pakistani government and military officials on Monday dismissed the rumors as unfounded and said the outage that left millions of homes without power for several hours Sunday was caused by a glitch in the national electricity transmission system.

"Previous coups in Pakistan have been accompanied by an information clampdown for several hours, and this is what many people thought was happening on Sunday," Pakistan's Daily Times reported.

Musharraf, who himself seized power from an elected government in a bloodless coup in 1999, has suffered a series of policy setbacks that have shaken his standing. But the charismatic former commando still has a firm grip on power.

In New York, Musharraf dismissed the coup rumors as "nonsense."

"Is our country a banana republic?" Musharraf told reporters in comments broadcast Monday by privately run Pakistani TV station Geo.

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