ISLAMABAD: The former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto says negotiations on a power-sharing agreement with the President, Pervez Musharraf, are at a standstill but that she will return from exile regardless of whether the two strike a deal.
Bhutto, who had indicated on Wednesday that the agreement was nearly complete, was pessimistic about the future of the talks as she spoke to reporters in London on Saturday.
While refraining from much direct criticism of General Musharraf, she spoke out against his political backers, blaming them for allowing extremism to fester in Pakistan, and saying they had deliberately scuttled the deal in order to keep moderates like herself out of power.
The talks "failed because some elements within the ruling party, who have presided over the expansion of extremism and militancy, did not want the path of moderation to take Pakistan to a democratic future", she said.
However, Bhutto's own Pakistan People's Party has also been resistant to the deal. Many of her strongest supporters have urged her to abandon the talks and return to Pakistan to oppose General Musharraf's re-election.
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