Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has yet to decide whether to step down as army chief and try to become a civilian president, a spokesman for the president said yesterday.
Exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said on Wednesday she had almost sealed a power-sharing deal with Musharraf that would see him quit as army chief, possibly before he seeks re-election next month.
With his term coming to an end and his popularity plummeting, army chief Musharraf has turned to Bhutto for help to shore up his position, and his aides are meeting with the two-time prime minister in London.
But Bhutto has been insisting an agreement would hinge on Musharraf stepping down as chief of the army, which has ruled for more than half Pakistan's history since independence in 1947.
The president's spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, said talks with Bhutto were going on, but no final agreement had been reached.
"Dialogue is continuing. There is no decision that I'm aware of," he said.
Musharraf aims to get re-elected president for another five years between mid-September and mid-October, before his term as army chief expires at the end of the year. Parliamentary elections are due around the turn of the year.
Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a close ally to Musharraf, told a news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday that the matter of Musharraf's army post had been settled and the president would make an announcement soon.
But Qureshi said no decision had been made.
"That's an issue the president has been speaking about and that's an issue he will decide," he said.
"A kind of impression is being given that a decision has been done but no such thing has happened so far. Not to my knowledge."
Another exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said yesterday he would return home on September 10 to challenge Musharraf in elections.
Sharif was ousted as prime minister in a 1999 coup by Musharraf and risks arrest when he goes back to Pakistan.
"I shall return to Islamabad on Sept 10. I will be landing in Islamabad... the city I left from," he told a news conference.
Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled last week that Sharif, a two-time prime minister, should be allowed to return.
Sharif has vowed to oppose a bid by Musharraf for another term as president.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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