NEW YORK, Sept 12: “If the general won’t listen to his own people, Washington needs to tell him the facts of Pakistan’s increasingly precarious political life. It’s time for General Musharraf to leave the military, for Pakistan to hold free and fair elections and for the army to find ways to support, not sabotage, civilian democratic rule,” the New York Times said in an editorial on Wednesday.

The newspaper criticised Mr Bush for “compromising his democratic ideals again by encouraging a power-sharing deal between General Musharraf and another exiled and flawed former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, whom Washington considers more moderate and more sympathetic than Mr Sharif”.

The editorial, “Running on Empty”, asserted that “even if they can pull it off, such a deal is unlikely to produce a stable political structure because the two leaders fiercely distrust each other”.

Saying that “with neighbours like Afghanistan, Iran, India and China, Pakistan is one of America’s most important allies, and its stability is vital”, the Times said: “There was a time when General Musharraf could have led his country’s peaceful transition to democracy and been a hero.”

The paper referred to the deportation of ‘longtime rival’ Nawaz Sharif and observed: “Mr Sharif is no Washington favourite, and this time the Bush administration’s criticism of the general’s overstepping has been pro forma.” The newspaper said: “The violent street protests in Pakistan, however, are raising new fears of cataclysmic political upheaval in a country that is both armed with nuclear weapons and the fault line in the fight against terrorism.”

The Times said: “Mr Sharif, a wealthy industrialist, is certainly no hero. His two stints as prime minister were seriously marred by corruption. And there is particular irony in his self-promotion as an opponent of military rule, since the military first helped put him in office. That is until General Musharraf decided to oust him in a bloodless coup. General Musharraf has spent the eight years since squandering his popular support. Pakistanis — professionals, ordinary people and even some in the military — have made clear that they are now sick of the general’s rule. Most want a return to civilian democracy. That should include elections in which all candidates, even deeply flawed ones like Mr Sharif, can participate.”