ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: Chairperson Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday welcomed the Human Rights Watch (HRW) call to the Bush administration to urge a return to civilian rule in Pakistan.

According to a report, the Human Rights Watch asked the US President George Bush to urge Gen Pervez Musharraf to keep his promise to step down as army chief by the end of the year and fully restore the civil rule in Pakistan.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The Human Rights Watch also asked Gen Musharraf to call on Bush to support an independent commission to investigate torture and ill-treatment at US military detention facilities.

According to the Human Rights Watch since the 1999 take over Gen Musharraf unilaterally imposed amendments to the Constitution dramatically strengthening the power of the presidency, formalizing the role of the army in governance and diminishing the authority of elected representatives.

In a statement, Ms Bhutto said the Human Rights Watch reflected the sentiments of the democratic forces when it said that it's time for the Bush administration to recognize how its support for military rule in Pakistan flew in the face of its pledge to foster democracy in the Muslim world.

The Human Rights Watch also pointed out that "the military is one of the main human rights abusers in the country. Under Musharraf, the military enjoys almost complete impunity for abuses, including well-documented cases of extra-judicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests. "Since Musharraf came to power, the military has gained a toehold in virtually every state institution, blocking the possibility of significant reforms".

She said one of the main reasons the armed forces were kept out of politics in developed countries was to enhance their reputation so that the morale of the soldiers and officers would always be high. Involving the military in political affairs, she said, had enormous consequences on its image as well as its professionalism.