The much-touted power-sharing deal between Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Images] and former premier Benazir Bhutto [Images] has collapsed over her demand that prime ministers must be allowed a third term, a minister considered close to the General has said.

"It is finished. The President said 'no'. If you insist, there are very thin chances of salvaging it -- just 1 or 2 per cent," Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was quoted by Dawn on Saturday.

"May be some last-minute attempt is made... to salvage the deal. But personally I am not at all hopeful, the reason being Bhutto's insistence that prime ministers must be allowed a third term," he said.