ISLAMABAD, Jan 20: A ‘surprise meeting’ of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto is expected on the former’s official visit to the United States within the next few months, political sources told Dawn here on Sunday.

The meeting, which will be projected as an ‘unexpected encounter’ between the two leaders, one aspiring for future presidentship and the other for becoming prime minister for the third time, is being arranged through a common friend at the Pakistan embassy in Washington, a source said.

Though the itinerary of the president’s visit to the US has not yet been finalized, the common friend has already sought the consent of both the leaders to arrange the meeting, the source added.

The former prime minister will fly to the US on the pretext of a lecture to some think-tank ahead of the president’s visit to Washington, the source further said.

President Musharraf has already received an invitation from President George Bush for an official visit to Washington. The invitation was extended through Secretary of State Colin Powell, who visited Pakistan last week.

However, an invitation for the PPP chairperson, coinciding with the president’s official visit, would be arranged once the dates were finalized by Washington, the source went on to say.

Political observers are of the view that after the recent volte-face in the approach of the establishment, Bhutto has once again become the most appropriate choice, whose very election to the office of prime ministership can give Pakistan an image of moderate and modern society.

Though the two sides, the government and the PPP, had reached quite close to a deal on several occasions in the past, these could not get through perhaps because of the fact that the government did not require PPP’s support as badly as it needed it in the changed scenario now, another source said.