Musharraf meets Benazir Bhutto in Abu Dhabi

Islamabad, July 28: Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttos first face-to-face meeting ended in a deadlock over the uniform issue.

Musharraf held talks with Bhutto in Abu Dhabi, and apart from discussing the prevailing political situation in Pakistan, and the forthcoming general and the President elections, discussed the uniform issue.

Television channels said Bhutto was asked to endorse Musharraf in uniform for the next President term, and in return the government would remove the Constitutional embargo on her becoming Prime Minister for a third time.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that he was unaware of any meeting having taken place between Bhutto and Musharraf.

&34;I am not aware of it,&34; the Daily Times quoted Babar, as saying.

The Presidents spokesman, Major General (retired) Rashid Qureshi, said that reports of a meeting between the Musharraf and Bhutto were &34;completely baseless&34;.

&34;They are baseless, concocted. There is no truth in them,&34; Qureshi said.

Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani too denied that Musharraf had met Bhutto in Abu Dhabi.

&34;The government keeps its door open for talks with anyone but no such meeting has taken place,&34; he told Geo News.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a channel that there was no deadlock in the Musharraf-Benazir negotiations on the uniform issue.

He said that this could be the final round of talks between the PPP and the Musharraf regime over the power-sharing pact.

Pakistan Muslim League president Shujaat Hussain appreciated the reported meeting between Musharraf and Bhutto, and said they had not &34;committed a sin&34;.

Musharraf arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Friday for a short visit and is set to travel to Saudi Arabia to meet King Abdullah as part of his two-day tour, officials said.

ANI>