Washington: In a developing political situation in Pakistan, US has denied to play any role and would be prefer to an observer in negotiations that could see a deal between Bhutto and President Musharraf. "There's a lot of discussions going on and there are a lot of statements being made about what the nature of those discussions are. These are issues that the Pakistani leadership is dealing with. And I think we ll let them actually reach agreements or come to conclusions before I try and step in the middle of it," US State Department Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

"I think we are looking closely at what is going on in the Pakistani political process. But I think we would like to be observers rather than direct participants at this point." Asserting that the primary concern for the US in Pakistan is that there be "free, credible and transparent" elections, Casey said the Bush administration was in touch with all political parties but the whole "process" was for the Pakistanis "to work through on their own".

"There is, not surprisingly, a lot of politics going on in Pakistan and among Pakistani officials and Pakistani party representatives. What I think we want to see, though, is an end result of those conversations being a process that's credible, bring elections that give the Pakistani people a real choice, and allow that choice to be heard through a free and fair ballot, and see a government formed that's going to have the support of the people and going to allow Pakistan to continue to be a force for positive change and a force to help work with us to fight against extremism," he said.