WASHINGTON, Aug 30: The White House urged President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday to honour past commitments, but said it would be up to Pakistanis to decide if he should step down as military chief.

“Musharraf has made commitments in the past,” said spokesman Gordon Johndroe, adding that Pakistanis would have to decide whether Gen Musharraf should keep his military position.

Washington, first and foremost, “seeks free and fair elections” in Pakistan, he said.

The current political situation in Pakistan was also raised at the White House briefing where spokesman Tony Snow refused to speculate if “the political marriage” between President Musharraf and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto would work.

“There are a lot of stories coming out of Pakistan. We'll let the Pakistanis break their own news on this,” Mr Snow said.

“Secondly, what we've said all along is what Pakistan needs is a transparent election, have a free and fair election conducted under transparent circumstances.”

At the State Department, the situation in Pakistan came up for discussion for a second consecutive day on Thursday, and like his counterpart at the White House deputy spokesman Tom Casey also noted that President Musharraf is committed to taking a decision on this issue and the United States expects him to honour this commitment.

Noting that another former premier, Nawaz Sharif, intends to return to Pakistan on Sept 10, ending nearly seven years of exile in Saudi Arabia and Britain, Mr Casey said these were “individual decisions” and he would not comment on them.

“Our expectation is that any outcome in this situation or in some of the other political discussions that have been going on (would) be consistent with the rule of law and the Pakistani constitution.”

Asked if the US government has sought clarification from Pakistani authorities about whether Gen Musharraf is going to quit the army before the elections, Mr Casey said: “President Musharraf said that he'd address this issue of dual leadership … in accordance with the Constitution … and we would expect that he'd honour” his commitments.

“In terms of US discussions with Pakistani officials, this is something where we certainly do talk with both officials of the government as well as members of the major political parties,” he added.

He said the United States was “very interested” in this process and was observing it carefully.

He said Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher and Ambassador Anne Patterson and her team were in regular contact with a variety of political players.