Pakistan News Story

09 January 2009 05:44 BST

Musharraf pledges February polls

US president George Bush has urged Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf to resign from his army post and to keep his promise of holding elections.

The US head of state telephoned the south Asian leader in the wake of the imposition of a state of emergency in the country which has raised fears in the west of the postponement of parliamentary polls in January.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Bush said that he had a "frank discussion" with the military ruler in which he emphasised America's expectations in terms of elections and the Pakistani president's dual posting as the head of the state and the military.

The president told Mr Musharraf: "My message was that we believe strongly in elections and that you ought to have elections soon and you need to take off your uniform.

"You can't be the president and the head of the military at the same time, so I had a very frank discussion with him," Mr Bush stated.

The US and UK have both condemned the decision to impose the extraordinary measures in the country warning that they would review financial assistance to the ally in the fight against terror.

Meanwhile, deputy US secretary of state John Negroponte highlighted the country's contribution to the war on terror while urging it to return to a normal political situation.

The senior diplomat said Pakistan was an "indispensable" ally and that cooperation with the country was the "only option".

Mr Negroponte said: "No country has done more in terms of inflicting damage and punishment on the Taliban and the al-Qaeda since 9-11. Their record is quite impressive."

But he warned that the current situation in which the constitution and civil liberties are suspended would only worsen the situation. He also called for an immediate end to the emergency in place.

President Musharraf has not commented on the timing of elections as yet but the president of the ruling party told media yesterday that the emergency status would be lifted after three weeks.

A government crackdown on protests, which are forbidden under the emergency order, has led to the detainment of over 400 opposition activists and resulted in the beating of demonstrators defying the ban on rallies.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has urged supporters to defy the government's decree and to stage a mass uprising against the government.

Ms Bhutto, who earlier this year ended her self-imposed exile by signing an amnesty deal with Gen Musharraf, also reinforced plans to hold a political rally in garrison town Rawalpindi.

"I appeal to the people of Pakistan to come forward. We are under attack," she said.

"How many people can they put behind bars? We will produce so many that they will not have enough jails.

"I call on all political forces to join hands and I will be travelling to Lahore. I want them to join us and we will go for a long march on November 13th from Lahore to Islamabad," she added.

Pakistan's politics has been convulsed by militancy since the crushing of a group of radicals besieged in Islamabad's Red Mosque in July.

But Gen Musharraf's hold on power has also been questioned. Many have accused him of engineering a "second coup" to prevent the supreme court questioning his legitimacy as the country's president for a second term in power.