ISLAMABAD, July 27: President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the country’s top opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, flew into the UAE capital Abu Dhabi from Islamabad and London on Friday for an unannounced meeting that was aimed at ending eight years of extreme hostility and to give the Pakistani politics a new direction, but highly informed sources told Dawn the talks remained inconclusive.

Another source privy to the talk process preferred to call it a “deadlock”, saying differences over the timing for the general to doff his uniform, and Ms Bhutto’s insistence on returning to Pakistan before the general election remained the contentious issues. But neither he nor any other person close to the process of talks of the last few months was prepared to describe it a failure.

In fact, one of them called it the most significant move in the direction of forging a new understanding of moderate and liberal forces which are able to form a future government, with the possibility of President Musharraf being the civilian head of state.

These sources, however, said till the time a final settlement takes place, such meetings or even contacts between the interlocutors may not be acknowledged by the two sides.

Senior government officials and PPP spokespersons, after keeping mum for most part of the day, first expressed ignorance about the Abdu Dhabi parleys, then tried to play down its significance, and later in the evening a couple of them denied outright that any such meeting ever took place. This was being interpreted by some observers as indicative of some last minute differences on a likely agreement, which may have compelled the two leaders to back off, or perhaps a deadlock occurred during a preliminary contact between senior representatives of the two sides.

“No such meeting was scheduled between the President and Benazir Bhutto,” Gen Musharraf’s recently re-appointed spokesman Maj-Gen (retd) Rashid Quereshi told media. “And to the best of my knowledge no meeting has taken place”.

An almost similar statement by Pakistan’s ambassador to UAE was also broadcast by Pakistan Television. However, a senior cabinet minister, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, was a bit more careful in the choice of words, neither clearly denying media reports nor confirming that such a meeting has taken place.

But at the same time his insistence was that the two sides have remained in contact for quite sometime with the aim to evolve new political alignment in the country.Ms Bhutto’s official spokesman in Pakistan, former Senator Farhatullah Babar appeared a bit shocked on the reports about such a meeting. It was quite obvious that he had been kept in the dark about Ms Bhutto’s plans, particularly her visit to Abu Dhabi. So, while he refused to confirm that such a meeting had taken place, Mr Babar was also not prepared to deny it as, according to him, he was finding it hard to challenge the reports coming to him via such a large number of television channels.

Coinciding with such reports was an important meeting in Islamabad at the Prime Minister’s House, where Mr Shaukat Aziz had another round of serious discussions with the PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, triggering more speculations about the fate of the present assemblies, or at least the government. Others present at the meeting included the PML Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed and the party’s chief whip Nasrullah Dareshak. Some insiders in the governing party said the developments taking place in Abu Dhabi, as well as the rapidly evolving political situation in the country were discussed, including a likely scenario in wake of a possible patch-up between President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto.

Irrespective of the outcome of the Abu Dhabi round, most keen watchers of Islamabad’s treacherous political game say the development indicates that the veil was about to be lifted from the secret and indirect talks of the past several months, which were mainly aimed at forging a new understanding between the military ruler and the main opposition leader.

Although politics is known for producing strange bedfellows, but most observers believe this was by far the strangest political combination seen in the country in decades. Here was a military ruler, known for his hatred for a “corrupt” Benazir Bhutto, in direct negotiations with a former prime minister whose claim to fame until now was her struggle for the establishment of undiluted democracy.

The driving force behind such contacts was said to be the evolving situation in the country, where the new political divide was being seen as between the forces of religious extremism and moderation. Such ideas also seemed to have the backing of the United States and the UK which, to a large extent, have played an important role in bringing the military ruler and Ms Bhutto close to each other.

However, sources say, the interlocutors in the secret talks have mostly been President’s most trusted aide, Tariq Aziz, and Ms Bhutto’s non-political adviser and former FIA official Rehman Malik. They are the ones who have reportedly ironed out most of the differences during over a dozen meetings in the last few months, leaving it for the two leaders to remove whatever irritants that remained. Two of them were believed to be the timing for Gen Musharraf to doff his uniform, and Ms Bhutto’s insistence on return to Pakistan before the next general election.

These sources say even if the two sides were unable to arrive at any agreement during the Abu Dhabi round, because of domestic and international compulsions, it was highly unlikely for them to go back on the process that was clearly aimed at forging an understanding between all groups having moderate or liberal political views to take on the groups that were perceived to be directly or indirectly supporting religious extremism.

Earlier, our correspondents added from London, Abu Dhabi and Jeddah: The Musharraf–Benazir meeting ended without the two leaders reaching any understanding on the issue of peaceful transfer of power from the military to a civilian setup, sources close to PPP told Dawn here on Friday.Wishing not to be identified these sources had informed Dawn early Friday morning that Ms Bhutto, who was to chair an important meeting regarding short-listing of candidates from Lahore constituencies for the forthcoming election, left London for an unscheduled visit to Abu Dhabi.

They did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf.

Later in the day, the same sources told Dawn that the meeting had virtually failed and Ms Bhutto would be returning either late on Friday evening or early Saturday morning as she is scheduled to chair a parliamentary Board meeting finalizing PPP candidates for the next elections.

When asked the sources claimed that during the Abu Dhabi meeting, Ms Bhutto was said to have offered a five-point proposal for cooperation.

This includes 1) a round table conference of all political parties leading to the formation of a national government and leaving the matter of President Musharraf’s re-election to the new government; 2) free, fair and transparent elections; 3) new electoral list made up from the one used in 2002 election and the new one; 4) withdrawal of cases against her as well as general amnesty and; 5) re-election of the president by the next assemblies and that too without uniform.

All this, it is said, was not acceptable to President Musharraf who, the sources claimed, insisted that she extend her party’s full cooperation to him for his re-election without any pre-condition and in return he was prepared to offer her a substantial share in the government following the general election.

He is also said to have refused to withdraw cases against her and made his offer of share in government conditional upon her remaining out of the country for another five years.

In a dramatic development, two staunch political opponents -- President Gen Musharraf and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto – are understood to have held a ‘secret’ meeting in Abu Dhabi on Friday evening.

According to informed sources, the meeting is said to have lasted for about an hour in which the two discussed the overall political situation in Pakistan. Ms Bhutto was alone in the meeting from the PPP side.

However, the sources said the meeting ended without any results.

Later, President Musharraf left Abu Dhabi for Jeddah.

Speculation is rife here that in Jeddah, the President will meet PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif.

However, Mr Sharif told media that his party and PPP were signatories to the Charter of Democracy which prohibited any contact with a military dictator.

“We (the PML-N) are abiding by the Charter. If Ms Bhutto is meeting President Musharraf, it is her decision,” he said.

President Musharraf arrived late Friday evening in Jeddah from Abu Dhabi.

He and the accompanying delegation were received at the airport by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, Governor of Makkah, and other senior Saudi princes and officials.