ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: Official sources indicated here on Monday the possibility of President Pervez Musharraf announcing in a couple of days his retirement from the army and making public a package of constitutional and administrative changes to meet some of the conditions set by the Pakistan People’s Party for sharing power with him.

Hectic political activities have been going on in the capital over the past couple of days, with the president, the prime minister, senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League and government officials holding a series of meetings to discuss issues concerning the presidential re-election and return of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. Gen Musharraf is believed to have been in constant touch with the General Headquarters and his top negotiators who are in London striving to sort out matters with Ms Bhutto.

The sources said the presidential team would return from London in a day or two and, based on its report, the president would take a decision about the package of constitutional and administrative changes.

The package, the sources said, would seek repeal of Article 58(8)2b of the Constitution, provide a waiver to Gen Musharraf for his re-election and remove the restriction about the third prime ministerial term. Constitutional amendment bills based on the package, the sources added, would be sent immediately to parliament for assent. Besides, all cases against Ms Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari would be withdrawn.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, who had a one-to-one meeting with Gen Musharraf earlier in the day, however, denied that a major decision was expected in a couple of days.

“Gen Musharraf has informed his close associates time and again that he has decided on a schedule for relinquishing the army post,” he said.

But the sources claimed that the president was under pressure to take immediate steps to end the stalemate.

A PML leader claimed that he attended two meetings Gen Musharraf had held last week, in which the option of martial law was discussed but rejected by most of the participants. He said that the president had been advised at the meetings to take an early decision about his army post to defuse the situation that had arisen in the wake of the Supreme Court’s judgment in favour of the Sharif brothers.

Sheikh Rashid said he believed that the deal with Ms Bhutto was in final stages, and the time for Gen Musharraf to quit the army was approaching, but it was not as near as was being speculated.

He said the three-day extension in the PPP’s central working committee meeting indicated how serious Ms Bhutto was about the deal, because she would like to wait for the final word from Islamabad.

“I doubt that Nawaz Sharif will return in the near future and whenever he does so, the government has a strategy in place to deal with him,” he said without elaborating.