Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto said today talks on a power sharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf had stalled but she would return to Pakistan very soon even without an agreement.
"No understanding has been arrived at," she told a news conference in London about her negotiations with President Musharraf that would see him quit as army chief and stand for re-election as president, and Ms Bhutto return to become prime minister.
She said talks between her party and President Musharraf's envoys "were successful during 80 per cent but appear to have stalled" and the Musharraf delegation has returned to Pakistan for consultations.
Pakistan, a nuclear power on the front line of the West's fight against al-Qaeda, is facing the risk of instability and turmoil as President Musharraf plots his course and former exiled prime ministers Ms Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif prepare to return home.
Ms Bhutto, who has corruption charges hanging over her and could be detained upon her arrival back in Pakistan, denied her return would be destabilising saying, "I saw my country destabilised during my absence."
"We've taken the decision to announce on September 14th the date of my return because we feel my return would be a factor for the stability of Pakistan," she said.
"I will be going back to Pakistan very soon. ... I feel the stage is set for the restoration of democracy and I hope to go back to play my part."
Ms Bhutto blamed hardliners in President Musharraf's ruling party, who she said had also been promoting militant Islam, for trying to scupper the talks. Nevertheless, the two-week delay in announcing her return plans gives more time for negotiations.
Ms Bhutto met colleagues from her popular Pakistan People's Party in London today to decide their next step as Musharraf weighed his options ahead of a presidential election due between September 15th and October 15th he hopes will win him another five-year term.
A general election is due at the end of the year. But with his popularity plummeting and challenges to his rule mounting, President Musharraf must line up support and he has turned to Ms Bhutto for help to broaden his base.
Ms Bhutto has insisted an agreement would hinge on President Musharraf stepping down as chief of the army, which has ruled for more than half Pakistan's history since independence in 1947. Ms Bhutto also wants immunity from prosecution for herself and others who served in the late 1980s and 1990s.
But many members of President Musharraf's ruling Pakistan Muslim League are alarmed at the prospect of their old rival Ms Bhutto returning to take power from them.
The party is rejecting parts of the proposed deal, including the lifting of a ban on a prime minster serving a third term - which would exclude two-time prime minister Ms Bhutto from power.
The party also objects to another Ms Bhutto demand - that the president be stripped of the power to dismiss governments. With doubts growing about a deal with Ms Bhutto, President Musharraf is considering trying to secure the support of conservative Islamic parties.
But the leader of an alliance of religious parties, Fazal-ur-Rehman, said today he would not back the president: "No democratic power will be ready to support President Musharraf in parliament."