Setback in Bhutto deal for Pakistan return

Former Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto and President General Pervez Musharraf appeared to suffer a major setback in their efforts to reach a deal that would shore up his fraught re-election bid and allow her to return to Pakistan to contest parliamentary elections.

Bhutto held a news conference in London yesterday to blame Pakistan’s ruling party for the standstill in the power-sharing talks and to announce that she plans to return to Pakistan from exile soon, even without an agreement.