LONDON, July 23: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said on Monday she was in contact with Gen Pervez Musharraf but it was “unlikely” they would reach a power-sharing deal.

Benazir also claimed the United States and Britain had offered implicit support for her return to the country which she led twice before fleeing into exile in the face of corruption charges in the late 1990s.

Gen Musharraf is facing opposition calls to quit amid mounting civil unrest highlighted by the military's storming of Islamabad's Lal Masjid earlier this month.

Asked on BBC radio if she had struck a deal with the military leader, Benazir said: “Not yet, no. There have been contacts and our contacts were over the holding of fair elections and a return to a political system in Pakistan.

“But ... over the months, nothing moved forward and we kept stumbling, for example we stumbled over electoral lists where 30 per cent of the voters were disenfranchised and I felt that that didn't amount to a fair election.

“So we haven't yet reached any agreement although we've had a lot of discussion on the point.” The leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said she was now sceptical about striking a deal before general elections.

“It's now three months left to the election so unless the regime acts rapidly it seems unlikely that there's going to be any agreement,” she added.

Gen Musharraf, the army chief who seized power in a coup in 1999, is constitutionally obliged to step aside as head of the military by the end of the year.

He hopes to be re-elected as president-in-uniform by the outgoing parliament this year, possibly in September, while general elections are due no later than early next year.

Benazir claimed that western governments had been in contact with her over her possible return.

Asked if they supported her plans to return, she said: “They support the restoration of democracy and they know that the PPP, as the polls show, would be the major player, so in that sense, yes.” Benazir told a British newspaper on Sunday that she could return to Pakistan as early as September.—AFP