WASHINGTON, June 7: Democracy is “a lot more established” in Pakistan than in some other nations, says US President George W. Bush, adding that much of the political protests seen in the country is “posturing” about the forthcoming elections.

The transcript of a roundtable with the media in Germany, distributed by the White House on Thursday, quoted Mr Bush as praising President Gen Pervez Musharraf as a leader who had effectively routed terrorists in his country.

The US leader not only praised Gen Musharraf’s role in the war against terror but also gave him a free hand to deal with the demand for democracy,

“Well, democracy is – it’s a lot more established in Pakistan than some of the other nations I mentioned,” said Mr Bush when asked if democracy was the best way to confront terrorists and shouldn’t the US push hard for democracy in Pakistan.

Earlier, Mr Bush had mentioned China, Russia and Middle Eastern countries as nations that were reluctant to advance democratic reforms in their societies.

Mr Bush also linked the current situation in Pakistan to the forthcoming elections. “What you’re seeing is a lot of posturing about the election process and it’s not perfect,” he said. “Neither was our democracy perfect for 100 years when we enslaved people.”

The US president recalled that when he visited Pakistan in March last year, he discussed democracy with the Pakistani leader.

“Standing right next to President Musharraf … we do discuss democracy, as well as routing out foreigners in his country who are an equal threat, a threat to America and a threat to him,” he said.