WASHINGTON - President Pervez Musharraf appears to have an "improbable ally" in PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari as the politically-wounded former military ruler continues to influence Pakistan "even from the shadows", a leading US newspaper said Sunday. "Although Zardari and (Benazir) Bhutto were prosecuted for corruption and exiled under Musharraf's government ... Zardari has found common cause with the president on several counts: Both hate (PML-N chief) Nawaz Sharif ... both have a strong interest in preventing the restoration of (EX-CJ Iftikhar Muhammad) Chaudhry, who might revive corruption charges against Zardari and declare Musharraf's presidency illegal," The Washington Post said, citing Pakistani analysts. Despite his party's liberal ideology, the newspaper said in a report from Islamabad that Zardari has been showing increasing signs of autocracy, such as strong-arming opponents through intermediaries and cracking down on press freedoms. Citing Media officials, Post's correspondent Pamela Constable said he had ordered that Geo television be barred from broadcasting in English and from airing several popular political talk shows. "Zardari has broken a lot of promises and betrayed a lot of people. His strength now is in Musharraf, who is also the major destabilizing source in Pakistan,"  Hamid Mir, the director and political host of Geo in the capital, was quoted as saying. The retention of the judges chosen by Musharraf, Mir said, is "essential to the political survival of both men." "Sharif, on the other hand, has become increasingly popular as he has repeatedly demanded the restoration of the ousted jurists and the removal of Musharraf," the newspaper said, citing his emotional statement after he pulled out his ministers from the federal cabinet, "We will not be part of a conspiracy to strengthen dictatorship." In the past week, The Post said the coalition's acrimonious split has "dashed some of the hopes for democratic progress generated by elections in February. Just as swiftly, it has generated talk of Musharraf as the political beneficiary, chortling at his adversaries' failures and sensing a chance for political muscle-flexing if not rehabilitation." The dispatch said: "Virtually no one here thinks that Musharraf has the clout or the desire to dissolve Parliament, as his presidential post allows him to do, let alone provoke another military coup. On the other hand, the civilian rift further lessens the chances of his being impeached by Parliament or legally challenged by the former Supreme Court chief justice he fired last year. Moreover, many Pakistanis are convinced that Musharraf still enjoys the support of Bush administration officials, who praised him as an 'indispensable ally' in the war against Islamic terrorism even after he cracked down on press and judicial freedoms last November, and who may worry that civilian leaders will not address the problem of Islamic militancy with as much rigor. Some critics note angrily that the United States never protested when Musharraf fired 60 judges and placed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry under house arrest for months." "There was not a single word of protest from Washington. The Americans have blindly supported Pervez Musharraf, at the cost of damaging the country, the region and themselves," Aitzaz Ahsan, a pro-democracy lawyer and a maverick leader of the PPP, was quoted as saying. "He (Musharraf) is the most hated man in Pakistan, and still the U.S. has put all its eggs in his basket." Noting that U.S. officials have stated repeatedly that they are happy to work with Pakistan's new civilian leaders, the dispatch said they have denied trying to pressure them. It said Critics here note that in the past several months, senior American officials have made several unexpected visits to Pakistan or other countries to meet with Pakistani officials at sensitive or critical political moments. "Many Pakistanis say they feel strongly that Musharraf should step down now, and some compare his presidency to a toothache that will gnaw at the country and distract its attention from more important issues, such as terrorism, rising food prices and chronic electricity shortages, until it is yanked out." In Washington, however, several analysts familiar with the administration's thinking were cited as saying that Musharraf could play a variety of useful roles -- from mediating with India to keeping the Pakistan People's Party and its partner, the Pakistan Muslim League-N, united. "If the parties can't get along, then he'll stay around and see a way of being a balancer between the two of them, with the support of the army," said Stephen Cohen, an expert on Pakistan at the Brookings Institution. He predicted, however, that Musharraf will make a 'graceful exit' well before the end of his five-year presidential term. "Although Musharraf may have reaped some temporary benefits -- or at least some satisfaction -- from the current tiff among his civilian adversaries, he has been permanently weakened by his heavy-handed actions last year and further diminished through his military retirement," The Post said, citing analysts. But Musharraf's close aides scoff at the notion that the president harbours any designs on power or would use force to achieve it. They say that the last few months have been bitter ones for the retired general, 62, who was pressured to retire from the army and relinquish control of the country after a series of missteps aimed at clinging to office and quashing adversaries.