ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's government is still interested in seeking a power-sharing deal with former prime minister and key opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, an official said Sunday, after Bhutto said months of talks were at a standstill.
Bhutto said Saturday that the talks -- aimed at gaining her support for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's bid to win a new five-year term -- had failed to reach an agreement.
The two-time prime minister, who lives in exile in London, said she planned to return to Pakistan regardless.
Sen. Tariq Azim, deputy information minister, said Sunday that some of Bhutto's recent comments hurt the monthslong negotiations, but that the government would continue talks with her.
"Obviously, the deadlines and demands ... were the things that did not help matters," Azim said, referring to Bhutto's pressing Musharraf to declare when he will step down as chief of the powerful army.
"The talks will still go on, but I think she has to understand that there are many other factors -- that she is not the only factor who will determine the final arrangements," Azim said.
Azim said any agreement between Bhutto and the government should also have backing from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, which staunchly supports Musharraf.
Musharraf and his emissaries have been negotiating with Bhutto to get her party's backing for the army general, as he prepares to seek another presidential term in a vote by lawmakers likely in September or October.
In return, Bhutto wants the government to drop corruption charges against her and to support a constitutional amendment that would allow her to serve a third term as prime minister.
Bhutto attributed the standstill in the talks to some ruling party members' opposition to working with her Pakistan People's Party. She also accused elements of the ruling party of supporting Taliban militants, but did not directly criticize Musharraf and appeared to keep the door open to further talks.
The failure to hatch a deal would be a setback to Bhutto in making her political comeback more than a decade after her second government collapsed.
It also would be a major blow to Musharraf, who has governed Pakistan virtually unchallenged for eight years after he seized power in 1999, but has seen his popularity plummet after a botched attempt to sack the country's top judge this year.
Musharraf's security forces are also struggling to contain Taliban militants at the Afghan border, raising questions about the key U.S. ally's effectiveness in fighting terrorism.
He now finds himself in a three-way fight for power with Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the man he deposed in a bloodless coup. Sharif plans to return from exile to Pakistan on Sept. 10.
At her London news conference, Bhutto said she would announce her own return date on Sept. 14.
