LONDON, Aug 26: Three heavyweight official negotiators are understood to have arrived here from Pakistan ostensibly to dissuade former prime minister Benazir Bhutto from walking out of the ‘deal’ which she had warned she would if President Pervez Musharraf did not fulfil by the end of this month the promises he had made.

The official team of negotiators is understood to comprise Secretary General of the National Security Council, Tariq Aziz, Chief of Staff Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Javed and businessman Iqbal Z. Ahmed who is said to be close to the President, the PPP chairperson and Nawaz Sharif.

Insiders said the three had met Ms Bhutto on Sunday afternoon, but no details could be obtained. Others said the meeting would probably continue on Monday.

Ms Bhutto is expecting what is called a firm ‘performance’ by Musharraf by the end of the current month on at least two of the promised CBMs — lifting of the constitutional bar against a person becoming prime minister for the third time and secondly, constitutional immunity for the governments which ruled between 1988 and 2000 indemnifying all their actions during their governance.

PPP sources said if Gen Musharraf planned to get himself elected by Sept 15, then he would have to make a move at least on these two CBMs before the end of the month.

“We are not looking for empty verbal assurances,” they said, perhaps trying to anticipate the message that the official negotiators have brought from Musharraf.

Ms Bhutto on her part does not seem to have any objection to Musharraf keeping the uniform until December this year, perhaps in the hope that by the time elections are held and a new government is formed it would be February 2008 and by which time Musharraf would be two months into civilian life.

The lingering disagreement between the two is said to be on the powers of the President to dissolve the assemblies.

Ms Bhutto believes that Gen Musharraf doesn’t need her party’s support for re-election from the current assemblies. But he is afraid of PPP joining the opposition in the streets against him, therefore he is said to have entered into a ‘deal’ with Ms Bhutto.

Insiders said most PPP stalwarts want her to oppose the presidential election because they think it is illegal. But Ms Bhutto has taken the position that if Musharraf takes confidence-building measures, the PPP should leave the matter of his re-election to the courts. And she appears to be convinced that the courts will rule it illegal.

If the current negotiations with Musharraf’s team fail, the PPP believes it can always serve as a third force in the future political scheme of things.

Ms Bhutto has called a meeting of PPP’s CEC comprising about 50 members on Aug 28. Most of these members led by Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Raja Pervez Ashraf, the president and general secretary of the PPP respectively, have already arrived here. PPP MNA Aitzaz Ahsan arrived on Saturday from Oslo where he had gone to attend an international meeting of lawyers. The remaining members are expected to reach here by Monday evening.

She is expected to consult the CEC on the outcome of her meetings with the official negotiators and take a firm decision one way or the other after due deliberations.

Ahmed Hassan in Islamabad adds: President Pervez Musharraf is likely to send a message to opposition parties, including the PPP and PML-N, soon by

offering to doff his uniform before seeking re-election and convening an all parties’ conference, sources told to Dawn on Sunday.

The president hinted at formation of a national consensus government with the PPP sharing power during a meeting with the lawmakers and ministers from Rawalpindi, which came as a surprise for political circles. It points to Gen Musharraf’s intentions of relinquishing the army post in response to PPP’s consistent demand.

The sources said that Gen Musharraf had been advised to take this ‘difficult decision’ as the only means to end the political deadlock.

The reported decision seems to have been driven also by a clear rift in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League after a number of top party stalwarts said that Gen Musharraf should shun his ambition of retaining uniform till the elections of next assemblies.

A number of senior party leaders are reported to have asked the president to go for national reconciliation, instead of getting himself elected by the present assemblies.