WASHINGTON, Dec 10: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday that the United Sates will continue to use its influence to ensure that the emergency in Pakistan is lifted on Dec 15 and free and fair elections are held as scheduled.

Replying to a question at the Women Foreign Policy Group’s annual luncheon in Washington, Ms Rice said the United States was also trying to bring together moderate forces in the country to oppose extremism.

Asked to define the US government’s role in the events unfolding in Pakistan, Ms Rice said the United States had played the role of “encouraging the Pakistanis” to take these measures.

President Pervez Musharraf’s decision to take off his uniform, she said, was a “very important” decision. “It is very important now that the state of emergency ends when they’ve said that it’s going to end and it’s very important that they carry out free and fair elections,” she added.

“That would put Pakistan back on a course toward democratic reform.”

Ms Rice credited the Musharraf government with creating a situation that allowed a “vibrant civil society” to function and a free media to operate.

“The fact is that a lot has happened in Pakistan. There’s a reason that you have a vibrant civil society. There’s a reason that you have a vibrant media,” she said.

“Some of those changes have come during the period of President Musharraf’s rule, but it’s important now that they take the next step, that they go to free and fair elections.”

Ms Rice said the United States has also been encouraging all of the moderate forces to come together and to oppose extremism, to participate in the elections, and to allow those elections to go forward.

The coming together of moderate forces, she said, would help Pakistan “move yet to a step further away from extremism” because this is a country that has had very deep extremist elements within it.

“It’s important that they be rooted out, and it’s important that moderate forces triumph,” she concluded.