WASHINGTON, July 28: Two leading US Congressmen have urged the Bush administration to use its influence for restoring democracy in Pakistan.

In a letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, they have urged him to seek a greater commitment from President Pervez Musharraf for restoring democracy and fighting terrorism, their office in Washington told Dawn.

Both Congressmen — Benjamin A. Gilman, New York, Republican, and Gary L. Ackerman, New York, Democrat — are members of the House International Relations Committee. Gilman is the chairman of the Middle East and South Asia sub-committee and Ackerman is the senior Democrat on the panel. In the letter, which was also sent to the government of Pakistan, they point out that in recent statements Gen Musharraf seems to be wavering from his earlier commitments to restore unfettered democracy and end militant attacks into occupied Kashmir.

“We are confident you will deliver the right message, but we are greatly concerned that the man on the receiving end doesn’t want to hear it,” the letter said.

They also criticized Gen Musharraf for the “sham referendum” that extended his term in office, and questioned whether the forthcoming parliamentary elections would be free and fair.

In a separate statement, Ackerman said: “The price for Pakistan’s help (to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces) must not include our abandonment of democratic principles. The United States should and must be insisting that Pakistan return to a democratic form of government without delay.”

He said the “sham referendum” that Gen Musharraf held for “extending his term” and “the proposed constitutional changes which would expand his power beyond October elections” have caused concerns that the elections “will not be free and fair for all.”

He said the steps that President Musharraf has taken so far point to “his determination to hold onto power and create only the veneer of democracy. In this process, Ackerman said, Gen Musharraf has alienated the very segments of Pakistani society which had originally welcomed his coup.”

He rejected the concern that “the alternative to Musharraf may be someone worse, adding that those who say so were not aware of Pakistan’s history. “Islamic parties have never done well in Pakistan elections” and this “speaks volumes about the desire of the Pakistani people to have a moderate democratic Muslim state,” he said.

Another Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, Republican, California, said the referendum that the Pakistan ruler held was “an insult to the democratic nations of the world, trying to suggest that he in some way through this corrupt process had verified his own ability, or the legitimacy of his military regime.”