WASHINGTON, Sept 15: The United Sates has said that it does not expect Benazir Bhutto to receive the same treatment meted out to Nawaz Sharif when he attempted to return to Pakistan earlier this month.

“I’m not sure the two cases would be equivalent,” said State Department’s spokesman Sean McCormack when asked if the US expects Ms Bhutto to be deported like Mr Sharif.

“I think they’re very -- very different circumstances there,” Mr McCormack told a briefing in Washington.

What happened to Mr Sharif “all took place in the context of an agreement that was said to be arrived at among the Saudi government, the Pakistani government, and Mr Sharif,” he said. “That whole legal question centred on that particular point.”

Earlier, another State Department official, when asked to comment on the US role in arranging a power-sharing deal between the government and Ms Bhutto, said that the United States encouraged moderate elements of the Pakistani society to come together and support the democratic process.

But the official also said that the US did not endorse “any particular individual or political party” in Pakistan.

The comments follow media reports that US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher met Ms Bhutto in Dubai last week.

Mr Boucher was in Islamabad earlier this month for what officials in Washington described as “preparatory talks” before the US-Pakistan dialogue on a strategic partnership.

He left the capital for two days and returned when Deputy Secretary John Negroponte arrived in Islamabad earlier this week for the partnership dialogue.

On Thursday, Tariq Fatmi, Pakistan’s former ambassador in Washington, told a private television channel that during his absence from Islamabad, Mr Boucher had visited Dubai for a meeting with Ms Bhutto.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that he was not aware of such a meeting.

Officials in Washington told Dawn that they did not have any information about these meetings but acknowledged that US officials did meet Pakistani political leaders.

“Our officials meet an array of political party members but we do not endorse any particular candidate or party,” said a State Department official. Asked if the United States regarded Ms Bhutto’s decision to return to Pakistan on Oct 18 as a good development, the official said: “It is up to the Pakistani people to decide what’s good or bad. We do not have a position on that.”

Responding to the question what role did the US play in promoting an understanding between President Musharraf and Ms Bhutto, the official said: “We have encouraged moderate elements of the Pakistani society to come together to combat extremism and support the democratic process and promote participation of political parties in this process.”

Diplomatic observers in Washington, however, point out that while the US has secretly played a key role in bringing together President Musharraf and Ms Bhutto, it has been reluctant to include PML (N) among the moderates. In private conversations, officials in Washington blame PML’s contacts with religious parties for their reluctance to include the party among the moderates.

Mr Fatmi, an unofficial adviser to PML (N) leaders, was in Washington last month and attempted to meet US officials to explain the party’s position on religious extremism.