ISLAMABAD, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf Friday held meeting with exiled former Prime Minister and Chairperson of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Benazir Bhutto in Abu Dhabi, a federal minister confirmed Saturday.

    Talking to media in Islamabad, Pakistani Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed termed the meeting as fruitful.

    "It was not first meeting but the second in the series as the first was held on January 24 this year," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Ahmed as saying.

    Ahmed said things are moving ahead in the right direction with PPP and one should be hopeful of better future for both the parties (Government and PPP).

    He said President Musharraf would be re-elected by the existing electoral college for the next term.

    The railway minister said August and September would be crucial for national politics and if the present situation continues to prevail then the government will have to take "harsh decisions," about which he however did not elaborate.

    Musharraf and the country's top opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, Friday flew to UAE capital for an unannounced meeting that was aimed at ending eight years of extreme hostility and to give the Pakistani politics a new direction, the DAWN newspaper reported on Saturday.

    Highly informed sources told Dawn the talks remained inconclusive, said the DAWN report.

    Benazir Bhutto served as Pakistan's prime minister twice in late 1980s and early 1990s and later left the country in a self-imposed exile to avoid being charged with corruption.