Talks Between Musharraf, Rival Show Signs of Breaking Down

Pakistani Officials on Both Sides Doubt Deal Can Be Reached

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 31 -- Negotiations on a power-sharing arrangement between Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto appeared to stall on Friday, with officials expressing doubt that a deal could be reached.

Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party had hoped to decide by Friday whether to go ahead with an agreement, but officials said they had not received what they were looking for from the government. After marathon meetings in London, the party planned to take up the issue again on Saturday.

"It seems that things are not moving forward," said PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

Government sources, meanwhile, said Bhutto was asking for too much.

"The demands of the People's Party have changed. They've started asking for more and more," said Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani. "So we're back to square one."

While Musharraf and Bhutto have long been bitter rivals, a deal could be useful to both since it would allow Bhutto back into the country to try to win back her old job and give Musharraf a smooth path to another term as president. Just two days ago, officials from both sides -- including Bhutto -- expressed optimism that an agreement was within sight. Bhutto even said that Musharraf had agreed to step down from his post as army chief before upcoming presidential elections.

Now, however, neither leader's party seems enthusiastic about the prospect of a deal.

"I'm very skeptical the deal will come through," said Talat Masood, a political analyst and retired general. "The people who have been supporting them all along are revolting against it."

Many of Bhutto's backers have expressed dismay that she is negotiating with a man she often lambasted as "a military dictator." Musharraf's advisers, meanwhile, have been warning him that accepting Bhutto's terms would badly erode his authority.

If negotiations fall apart, Musharraf has limited options. The general, who has seen his popularity plummet this year, must stand for reelection between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15. But before that can happen, Pakistan's Supreme Court could declare him ineligible to run.

Under Pakistan's constitution, the president cannot have worked as a government employee during the two years before election. Lawyers who are trying to knock Musharraf out of office say that means that even if he were to retire as army chief, he would be constitutionally prohibited from being reelected.

The lawyers are likely to get a sympathetic hearing at the Supreme Court, where the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, has been issuing decisions rejecting government views since he was reinstated in July, following Musharraf's botched attempt to fire him.

Bhutto said this week that if talks with the government succeeded, the parliament would waive the two-year prohibition on government employees in exchange for lifting a restriction that keeps prime ministers from serving more than two terms.

But officials from Musharraf's ruling Pakistan Muslim League indicated Friday that they have no intention of eliminating the two-term limit. They also said they would not accept Bhutto, who served two terms in the 1980s and 1990s, as prime minister.

It is unclear how Musharraf would react if the Supreme Court invalidated his candidacy. Durrani, the information minister, said the government was exploring "other constitutional options."

One of those options, according to government officials, is to declare a state of emergency, which would allow Musharraf to delay elections by a year and blunt the power of the courts. This month, the government seemed on the verge of declaring an emergency, only to pull back in response to domestic and international pressure.

Bhutto and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif have vowed to return to Pakistan in time for parliamentary elections slated for later this year or early 2008. Though the Supreme Court cleared the way for Sharif's return, the government is trying to keep Sharif out by asking Saudi Arabian officials to pressure him to honor a deal he made with the kingdom in 2000 to live in exile for 10 years. If that strategy fails, Sharif could be arrested upon his return and forced to serve a life prison sentence on a variety of counts, including corruption.

Bhutto could face her own legal hurdles if she returns without a deal that would scuttle various corruption cases against her.

Elsewhere in Pakistan on Friday, officials said they were trying to negotiate the release of approximately 120 soldiers taken hostage by Taliban insurgents Thursday in the restive tribal area of South Waziristan. A military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, called the situation "tense" but said he was hopeful the troops would be freed on Saturday.