WASHINGTON, Aug 12: The United States should tell President Gen Pervez Musharraf to negotiate a rapid return to democracy, before it is too late, says International Herald Tribune.

In an editorial published on Sunday, the US newspaper recalls that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice helped head off what could have been a political cataclysm by calling Gen Musharraf at 2a.m. on Thursday and talking him out of seizing new powers to suspend the Parliament, hamstring courts, curb street demonstrations and guarantee a new term.

But “telling Musharraf not to seize still more power is not enough,” argues the newspaper, telling the Bush administration that “more than early-morning crisis management will be needed to keep this very difficult situation from turning drastically worse.” The paper claims that the President has worked himself and his friends into a tight corner and his “reckless political trajectory” is turning him into one of the Bush administration’s most dangerous partners.

The IHT notes that after eight years of authoritarianism and broken promises, Gen Musharraf has forfeited the support he once enjoyed among ordinary Pakistanis, educated professionals and even fellow military officers.

“Most Pakistanis now want a return to elected civilian government; even if that means bringing back some of the flawed party leaders the general has tried to banish from political life, like two former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.”

The paper warns that if Gen Musharraf tries to cling forcibly to power over growing protests, the most likely beneficiaries “are militant minorities, from armed Islamist groups to conspiratorial military nationalists.”