Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in a dramatic volte-face, pulled back from a threatened mass walkout from parliament and voiced hope on Thursday of a breakthrough deal with President Pervez Musharraf.

A day after declaring that talks with Musharraf had “totally stalled”, Bhutto told reporters in London she was now optimistic of an agreement with Pakistan’s military leader on a transition towards democracy.

Such a deal, she said, would avert the threat of a mass resignation by her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) from parliament — an action which would have undermined the credibility of Musharraf’s expected re-election by lawmakers on Saturday.

“We are optimistic today, but I cannot say everything is finalised,” Bhutto, who has spent the last eight years in self-exile, said after a two-day PPP meeting in a small terraced house in London.

She added that she was still waiting to see the text of a national reconciliation bill which would spell out the understandings reached with Musharraf in “hectic negotiations and discussions” overnight.

The bill is designed to address a key Bhutto demand by removing the threat of prosecution against her and other former politicians and government officials.

“It is an across-the-board bill for all political parties,” said Bhutto, who denies longstanding corruption charges against her in connection with her two terms as prime minister.Bhutto, 54, plans to fly back to Pakistan on October 18 to contest a parliamentary election due by mid-January. “We expect there will be no obstacle in the path of my return,” she said.

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