New York: Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister of Pakistan and leader of its largest opposition party, said on Saturday she hoped to return to Pakistan by mid-October for elections in which she may ally with President Pervez Musharraf.
But Bhutto said any deal with the president depended on him taking upfront confidence building steps by the end of August, such as lifting a ban on politicians serving a third term as prime minister, which excludes her from the post.
"I would like to go back to Pakistan sooner rather than later but General Musharraf still is opposed to my return to Pakistan," Bhutto told Reuters in an interview in New York.
"He's prepared for my return to Pakistan but the timing of it is under dispute between the two of us."
A cabinet minister said on Saturday the beleaguered president wants exiled former prime ministers Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to stay away from Pakistan before forthcoming parliamentary elections, due later this year or in early 2008.
Asked when she planned to return, she said she was thinking of between September and December. "I'm expecting the general elections to be called some time in October or November, but if I had my little Aladdin's lamp then I would ask the genie to get me there by Eid, which falls in October," she said.
The Eid holiday is expected to start around October 13 this year in Pakistan.
Bhutto, who is reported to have met Musharraf in person last month, said she had a "confidential understanding" with him on the principle of her return from self-imposed exile and on her demand that he should stand down from the army.
Asked about the meeting in Abu Dhabi, Bhutto declined to confirm or deny it but said:
"We have been having negotiations for a long period of time. We have discussed the uniform issue and both sides have reached a confidential understanding on it.
"We have discussed my return issue and we've also reached a confidential understanding on that."
She said they had also discussed the balance of power between the president and the prime minister but "that is still to be fine tuned."
They also discussed election reforms to ensure a free and fair vote and she said her Pakistan People's Party was waiting to see reforms implemented. If the elections turned out to be rigged, that would be a "deal-breaker," she said.
"We've also talked about the need to have an upfront confidence building measure, which could be through indemnity or lifting of the ban on a twice elected prime minister before we say or trigger an agreement," Bhutto said.
Musharraf plans to seek re-election from the sitting assemblies before parliamentary elections, a move which his opponents deem illegal and have indicated they will challenge in the Supreme Court.
Bhutto said she and Musharraf had agreed to disagree on that point since it would be decided by the courts, so it was not a deal-breaker.
"While there is agreement on a number of issues, or there's agreement to disagree on some issues because there's a third party adjudicator, the actual deal breakers are 'Is there going to be some up front action before we all enter these election seasons, like by the end of this month?" she said.
"Time is running out," she said, adding that key aides in her party were coming to New York for an emergency meeting to discuss how to proceed to the elections. "The ban has to go, the indemnity has to come by the end of August."
