Bush wants 'free and fair' elections in Pakistan

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said yesterday he was "hopeful" Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf would press on with free and fair elections after deciding against calling a state of emergency.

Bush also renewed US calls for full cooperation from the crucial anti-terror ally in the search for Al-Qaeda leaders believed to be holed up along the Pakistan-Afghan border area in remote tribal lands.

The US president said in a White House news conference before leaving Washington on vacation that he had called on Musharraf to move towards democracy.

"My focus in terms of the domestic scene is they have a free and fair election. That is what we have been talking about, and hopefully, they will."

Bush's comments came after Musharraf decided, against the advice of aides worried about instability, not to impose a state of emergency, a move that would have delayed looming elections.

Pakistani Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani earlier told AFP "President Musharraf has decided not to impose the state of emergency in the country as suggested by some political parties and others."

"The decision was taken because the priority of the president and present government is to have free, fair and impartial elections in line with the constitutional requirements," he said.

Pakistan's next polls are due by early 2008, and will be the first since late 2002. Army chief Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

The United States has consistently pushed for the polls, seeing them as a way of enhancing the legitimacy of the government of Musharraf, a vital anti-terror partner.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to Musharraf, by telephone, amid rumblings about emergency rule and Musharraf's decision, announced Wednesday, to pull out of a key three-day tribal council in Kabul which began Thursday, aimed at ending Taliban and Al-Qaeda-sponsored terrorism.

Bush also touched on the controversy about US intentions should Washington pinpoint Al-Qaeda leaders on Pakistani soil.

"I have made it clear to him that I expect that there be full cooperation in sharing intelligence" and "swift action" against Al-Qaeda inside Pakistan if solid intelligence emerges about their whereabouts, Bush said.

Bush was also careful to express respect for Pakistan's sovereignty, following Islamabad's publicly expressed anger over calls for unilateral US action to target Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

The president, in a White House news conference before heading off on his annual working vacation, also paid tribute to Musharraf's cooperation with the United States in battling terrorism.