LONDON, July 22: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said that any deal with President Gen Pervez Musharraf in the present scenario will be damaging to her Pakistan People’s Party.

She said she is planning to return home early, tentatively in September.

In an interview published in the Sunday Times, she said the logic for a political deal that she had been contemplating with Gen Musharraf had been significantly weakened by the Supreme Court’s decision last week to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Any deal now with the general would be unpopular and damaging to her Pakistan People’s Party, she said. “He has lost his moral authority.

“His popularity rates are down and it would be very unpopular if we saved him. We would lose votes by being associated with him,” she said.

Ms Bhutto said the Supreme Court had reasserted the independence of the judiciary and the newly strengthened courts could topple Gen Musharraf through rulings on whether he could be appointed twice by the same assembly and whether he could continue to serve as both president and army chief of staff.

Critics said the real reason for the suspension of the Chief Justice had been that Gen Musharraf believed Justice Iftikhar would overrule his plans to be reappointed by the current parliament, in which he had a majority, rather than wait for a new assembly that was due to be elected by the end of this year.

The only circumstances in which Ms Bhutto might still consider an arrangement would be if she felt it necessary to guarantee fair parliamentary elections on time.

Ms Bhutto will wait to see if Gen Musharraf goes through with his plan to be reappointed by the assembly before deciding whether to abandon discussions with him.

She is, therefore, making plans for an early return to challenge plans by Gen Musharraf to secure a new term as president without waiting for elections.

Speaking in London, Ms Bhutto, who risks arrest on corruption charges on her return to Pakistan, said she felt that going home would be less hazardous than previously thought and she would make a final decision on the date next month.

“I said I would return by December, but now my people tell me we should go to court in regard to my return, and that I should come back as soon as possible, maybe in September. We will decide at a party meeting at the end of August,” she said. “I feel safer about returning after the Supreme Court’s decision.”

The reinstatement of the popular chief justice has left Gen Musharraf more isolated than at any time since he seized power in 1999.

This weekend Gen Musharraf was locked in emergency meetings with cabinet colleagues, plotting a strategy to save his leadership.

If he seeks a mandate from the current parliament but is overruled by the Supreme Court, he will be forced to hand over the presidency to a caretaker.

Ms Bhutto’s advisers are preparing to challenge his right to continue wearing his army chief’s uniform while serving as president, and are seeking to restore millions of voters to the electoral roll. They will also ask for a ruling on whether Ms Bhutto should be released if she is arrested when she returns to Pakistan.

Gen Musharraf’s strongest domestic ally in his war on the country’s militants has been Ms Bhutto. Despite public criticism of Gen Musharraf by US officials, they still believe that he is essential to hopes of restoring stability to the country. They also believe that he needs a deal with Ms Bhutto to make headway and restore democratic legitimacy.

The options:

A comeback by Benazir Bhutto: Likely, but she faces an uphill struggle to become prime minister again. She can nominate a colleague as prime minister while calling the shots as party boss.

Early election: Unlikely. Gen Musharraf will have to announce elections next week so that they can be held three months later, just before his term ends.

An army coup: Cannot be ruled out. There are rumblings in the ranks.

A return to barracks: Musharraf can choose to abandon politics, though his successor as president may regard him as a threat as chief of staff and pension him off.