WASHINGTON, Nov 14: US President George W. Bush has added his voice to the demand that General Pervez Musharraf should lift the state of emergency and then hold elections.

So far his aides have been making this demand but Mr Bush had not addressed the issue directly.

The US president also hoped that the Pakistani leader would remain a strong ally in the war against terrorism. “He understands the stakes of the war, and I do believe he understands the importance of democracy,” Mr Bush said on the Fox Business Network.

Mr Bush described the unrest in Pakistan as “an ever-changing situation”, and noted that he had urged Gen Musharraf by telephone one week ago to lift the state of emergency, hold elections, and quit as army chief. “He’s agreed to hold elections in January, and he’s agreed to take his uniform off. And our judgment is that the sooner he can suspend his emergency decree, the faster Pakistan gets back on the road to democracy,” Mr Bush said. “When I talked to him, I said: ‘You got to get Pakistan back on the road to democracy as quickly as possible.’ And that means elections, and that means … you can’t be the head of the military and the president at the same time,’’ Mr Bush said.

At the State Department, deputy spokesman Tom Casey confirmed that Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte will discuss the current situation with Pakistani leaders when he arrives in Islamabad during the next 24 hours.

“Obviously, he will … be making the same kinds of points to the Pakistani officials he meets with that you’ve heard from the president, from the secretary (Condoleezza Rice) and others; that being that we want to see an end to the state of emergency.”

Mr Negroponte will also tell Pakistani officials that the US wants to see elections move forward as quickly as possible.

“We want to see those elections take place in an atmosphere that allows for free, fair and open competition. We want the elections to be representative of the will of the Pakistani people,” Mr Casey said.