LONDON, Aug 29: Negotiations between Gen Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto are understood to have met a seemingly un-surmountable hurdle in what is said to be adamant insistence of the former that it should be left to him to decide when she will return to Pakistan and that the two-time prime minister clause in the Constitution will not be withdrawn come what may.

Sources privy to the ongoing negotiations said that about 95 per cent of the deal had been done, but the remaining unresolved five per cent, they thought, could put the talks in the reverse gear.

Ms Bhutto has demanded that all legal and administrative hurdles in the way of her return should be withdrawn and the constitutional bar against her becoming prime minister for the third time be lifted.

She also wants people like Justice (retd) Malik Qayuum, the new Attorney-General whom she calls discredited persons, removed from government offices before elections are held.

Some observers here say that by asking for indemnity for governments who ruled between 1988 and 1999, she was in fact trying to keep her rival for the PM’s slot, Nawaz Sharif, out of the arena as he and his senior party colleague Javed Hashmi were held guilty albeit of concocted crimes after 1999.

They said President Musharraf on the other hand wanted to share power with Benazir not directly but through a PPP proxy if her party won enough seats after the general elections but perhaps to ensure that he was saved from even such a possibility he wanted to keep Benazir Bhutto from personally leading the party’s election campaign believing perhaps that her absence from the country would considerably reduce her party’s election fortunes.

“That is why perhaps he wants to set the date of her return so that he could keep her out of arena,” sources said.

But Benazir Bhutto claimed to Daily Telegraph in an interview published on Wednesday that the uniform issue was the key and “there has been a lot of movement on it in the recent round of talks”.

She claimed that President Musharraf had already agreed to resign as army chief in a power-sharing deal.

The newspaper claims the shift comes days after the Supreme Court ruled that another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, whom Gen Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, was allowed to return from exile.

Ms Bhutto also claimed that in this week’s talks, the embattled president placed a ‘new issue’ on the negotiating table by seeking her support over his ‘eligibility’ to be re-elected.

Gen Musharraf, faced by an increasingly bold Supreme Court, has asked Ms Bhutto to support a constitutional amendment allowing him to be re-elected. Ms Bhutto said the government would have to make “an upfront gesture of reciprocity, a clear indication of political support for the Pakistan People's Party”.

Ms Bhutto, who served twice as prime minister but whose tenures both ended amid allegations of corruption, said her party wanted to see signs that Gen Musharraf's ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League, is “no longer calling the shots”.

“We are close to an agreement, but we are still not there,” she said, adding that the deadline for any deal was the end of this month.

Nawaz Sharif has pledged to return to Pakistan soon, presenting an immediate challenge to both Gen Musharraf and Ms Bhutto whose dealings with a military dictator have tarnished her party.

Mr Sharif said on Tuesday that Gen Musharraf's offer to step down as army chief was “too little, too late”.

“Musharraf does not qualify to be a presidential candidate, whether in or out of uniform,” he said in London. “He has lost credibility and the people of Pakistan want him out.”

Behind the scenes America and Britain are trying to forge an alliance between the military ruler and Ms Bhutto.

Masood Haider from New York adds: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday that an agreement with President Musharraf was a done deal ‘almost’.

“We believe now we do not have to move the court, he will take off the uniform himself before seeking election,” Ms Bhutto told CNN in an interview. “I think it is no longer an issue,” she asserted.

In the same programme, Railways Minister Shaikh Rashid told the network that in fact an agreement on the uniform was a ‘done deal’.

“I don’t see that as a stumbling block,” Ms Bhutto told CNN. “General Musharraf understands that the people of Pakistan want him to take the uniform off. And he wants to make the people happy.”

“It’s solved,” said Mr Rashid.

Asked when does she plan a return, Ms Bhutto said: “This fall I will return whether or not we have a deal.”

In an interview with Dawn earlier in the month Ms Bhutto also indicated that her husband Asif Zardari, who is undergoing rehabilitation in a New York hospital, would accompany her. “Only if he is well,” she said.