World | Pakistan
Bush tells Musharraf to hold elections soon and step down from army
US President George W Bush has told Pervez Musharraf to hold elections and step down as head of the army.
- Agencies
- Published: 08:05 November 8, 2007
- Image Credit: AP
- Bush told Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that he should hold elections soon
Washington: US President George W Bush has told Pervez Musharraf to hold elections and step down as head of the army.
His views were relayed in a 20 minutes phone call on Wednesday night.
Bush told him that it was not right for Musharraf to continue as both president of the country and head of the military.
Bush told reporters: "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."
US Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, also played up Musharraf's role in the US backed War on Terror.
He told Congress: "No country has done more in terms of inflicting damage and punishment on the Taleban and the al-Qaeda since 9/11."
Pressure is mounting on Musharraf to suspend the state of emergency. This is the second time the US has spoken to the Pakistani president.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has already urged Pakistanis to hold mass protests against the current state of emergency.
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- Islamabad rejects global concern
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