Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has rejected “any pressure or ultimatum” in taking a decision about quitting as army chief, amid claims by former premier Benazir Bhutto the General has agreed to shed his uniform as part of a power-sharing deal.

“While the President believes in dialogue and deliberations on all important national issues, he never works under any pressure or ultimatum,” Musharraf’s spokesman Rashid Qureshi said in a statement on Thursday.

“The President would make all decisions only in national interest at appropriate times according to the Constitution and the law,” he said in the first official reaction from Musharraf’s side on the power-sharing talks with Bhutto, the leader of Pakistan People’s Party.

The spokesman was responding to reports that Bhutto’s calls for concrete commitments by the end of this week amounted to an ultimatum to decide whether to remove uniform.

A government spokesman Mohammed Ali Durrani, meanwhile, said Musharraf has not yet decided whether to step down as army chief before the presidential election. Asked about a claim by Bhutto in this regard, he said, “No decision has been made. When he will decide, he will announce it,” Durrani told reporters.

In a series of interviews, Bhutto claimed that most issues with Musharraf had been resolved, including that he has agreed to doff his uniform before the presidential elections.

In the latest interview to Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Bhutto said: “A lot of progress has been made, particularly on the uniform. But it’s for the President to make an announcement.”

She said Musharraf had until Friday to respond. “There are no ultimatums, but we need to know where we stand by then.”

Bhutto said in the interview that Musharraf has also agreed to drop corruption charges against her, her husband and dozens of other lawmakers in a general amnesty covering the period from 1988 to 1999.

Pakistan Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Wednesday told reporters here that the deal between Bhutto and Musharraf was “eighty per cent done”.

He said the crucial issue over Musharraf’s dual role as president and army chief had been resolved. “Both sides have agreed on the issue of uniform,” said Ahmed, considered close to the General.