ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has admitted that talks with President Gen Pervez Musharraf have stalled.

She told the BBC on Sunday that the talks had stalled over the issue of parliamentary powers. She had demanded that Musharraf relinquish his power to dissolve parliament.

“I’m trying to get a parliament that is sovereign, that can tackle the issues of militancy and poverty that are at the moment the main trouble spots for Pakistan,” she said.

“I don’t want to see chaos and anarchy and bloodshed,” she added.President Musharraf has sent his aides back to London in a bid to rescue the deal with Ms Bhutto, sources here said.

The United States and Britain have reportedly been pushing behind the scenes for a pact, seeing the Oxford-educated Ms Bhutto as a natural ally for the relatively moderate Gen Musharraf.

But the talks ran into trouble after the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party opposed her demands that Gen Musharraf shed his uniform before re-election, cede his powers to dissolve parliament and allow premiers to serve a third term.—AFP