LONDON, Feb 20: President Pervez Musharraf is contemplating entering into a deal with Benazir Bhutto and her party to keep extremists at bay, according to an article published in the Times on Tuesday. Bronwen Maddox the author of the article — “Once-unthinkable deal might be Musharraf’s only option” — believes that Musharraf’s alarm at militancy and at the rise of the religious parties has jolted him into thinking that his best hope of saving his presidency and his reforms may be to turn to Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party.

He says that talks to the effect have been going on for more than a month, in an excited although fitful way. “This is an astonishing direction for Musharraf; it is also, suddenly, almost his only option and the US would like him to understand that he does not really have a choice at all,” believes Mr Maddox.

Referring to what he believes to be the two main goals of Musharraf — to be assured of being re-elected as president by parliament and to win support for his plans to “modernise Pakistan” — Mr Maddox describes as tricky the first goal and argues that the small religious parties and the mainstream, conservative (ruling) Pakistan Muslim League have blocked his reform plans.

Through a process of elimination, Mr Maddox shoots down one by one the options available to Musharraf for re-election — like asking the outgoing parliament simply to re-nominate him or turn to the next parliament to be elected late this year (which according to him may not pick him).