ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) – President General Musharraf held secret talks with opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a government minister said Saturday. Media widely reported that the once-bitter rivals had discussed a power-sharing deal.

The president, who is struggling with twin upsurges in Islamic militancy and calls for democracy, “held a successful meeting” with Ms. Bhutto in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi on Friday, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. He would not elaborate, but said “hopefully” Bhutto’s secular, socially liberal Pakistan Peoples Party – Pakistan’s largest opposition party – would decide to back Musharraf.

Pakistani media reported that General Musharraf and Ms. Bhutto discussed a possible power-sharing deal for nearly an hour but ended without agreement.

Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, a minister in the coalition government that backs General Musharraf, said it appeared the two were trying to strike a deal to secure another term for the general while paving the way for Ms. Bhutto to return as prime minister.

For that to happen, the government would have to change the constitution that prohibits anyone from becoming prime minister more than twice. General Musharraf also faces constitutional hurdles if he wants to cling onto his position as army chief while staying on as president.

General Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, is a key American ally in the fight against terrorism. The general plans to seek reappointment from legislators for a new-five year presidential term this fall.

The Abu Dhabi talks faltered when Ms. Bhutto, who leads her party from self-imposed exile in London and the United Arab Emirates, refused to agree to support Musharraf if he did not resign from the military, Geo television reported, citing unnamed sources.

General Musharraf is in the weakest position of his political career. He recently attempted, and failed, to oust Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, an independent-minded judge who could rule on expected legal challenges to Musharraf’s plans for re-election.

General Musharraf’s move against the judge reinforced perceptions of an overbearing military and triggered rallies by tens of thousands of lawyers and opposition activists, including from Ms. Bhutto’s party.

General Musharraf also has been weakened by an alarming escalation in Islamic militancy.

There has been a surge in attacks since an army assault on the pro-Taliban Red Mosque in Islamabad earlier this month killed at least 102 people. A controversial security deal with tribal leaders on the Afghan border to contain Taliban and Al Qaeda forces has also collapsed.

Ms/ Bhutto served as prime minister twice in the 1980s and 1990s, but fled the country to avoid corruption charges after her second government collapsed.

She has hinted previously that she may be willing to cut a deal with General Musharraf, but she has also been a sharp critic, calling Musharraf a dictator and insisting he must resign his role as army chief.

In a London interview earlier this month, Ms. Bhutto also said before she returns the president would have to give up the power to fire the prime minister and dissolve parliament and show that free and fair elections can be held.

___

Associated Press writer Sadaqat Jan contributed to this report.