WASHINGTON, Oct 20: The United States has said that it does not want Pakistan to take any action that will undermine the democratic process in the country.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told a briefing in Washington that the United States would like to see a thorough investigation conducted to determine who was behind Thursday’s blasts and hoped that the culprits would be found and brought to justice.

But “we do not wish to see any action taking place that would undermine the democratic process in Pakistan or make it harder for the Pakistani people to have an opportunity to express their views in free and fair elections,” she added.

This is not the first time the United States has urged Pakistan not to resort to undemocratic means for restoring law and order. On August 9, when the Pakistani media reported that President Gen Pervez Musharraf was on the verge of declaring a state of emergency in the country, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned the president and allegedly persuaded him not to do so.

Recently, the US media prominently displayed a report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group saying that Gen Musharraf is still considering a drastic move to retain his grip on power and to deal with growing security threat in tribal regions.

CNN, quoting sources in the Pentagon, reported that senior US military officials remain deeply concerned that the state of emergency remained a viable option for Pakistani general.

At the White House, the press secretary said the United States did not have additional information to determine who was behind the Karachi blasts, but she indicated that President George W. Bush believed that it were religious extremists.

“The president is concerned that … I mean, you look at a moderate Islamic state like Pakistan -- any time they try to make moves toward stabilizing their democracy, radical Islamic extremists do something in order to try to stop that progress,” Ms Perino said.

“And that is a concern to the president, not only in Pakistan but in the entire region, and one of the reasons that we are actively engaged to try to make sure that we can stop this trend of radical Islamic extremists from murdering innocent people,” she said.