WASHINGTON, Nov 5: President George Bush on Monday exhorted President Pervez Musharraf to hold elections and relinquish his army post “as soon as possible”. The US leader said he had instructed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to deliver that message in a telephone call with President Musharraf.

Condoleezza Rice called Gen Musharraf late on Monday night from her plane as she was returning to Washington from the Middle East, an official said. Ms Rice made clear to the president that the United States was deeply disappointed in the weekend move and wanted Gen Musharraf to rescind the decision as well as hold elections in January.

The conversation was the highest-level US contact with Gen Musharraf since Oct 31 when Ms Rice unsuccessfully lobbied the president not to declare a state of emergency or face unspecified consequences, according to the official.

Mr Bush made his comments in the Oval Office of the White House after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was Mr Bush’s first public comment on the political crisis in Pakistan since the imposition of a state of emergency.

“Our hope is that he will restore democracy as quickly as possible,” he said.

But Bush brushed aside a question about what he would do if Musharraf refuses or whether he would cut US aid, saying “all we can do is to continue to work with the president” for now and “we’ll deal with it” if he does not.

“It’s a hypothetical,” he said. “I certainly hope he (Gen Musharraf) does take my advice.”

But the president made a point of praising Pakistan’s cooperation in the “war on terror”, and seemed resigned that, as a result, there was little concrete action he can take to influence Gen Musharraf.

“President Musharraf has been a strong fighter against extremists and radicals,” Mr Bush said. “All we can do is continue to work with the president ... to make abundantly clear the position of the United States.”

The Turkish premier also took the opportunity to publicly call for President Musharraf to change course and hold elections as promised.

“It is also our desire to see a return to democracy (in Pakistan) in the shortest time possible,” the Turkish leader said. “The way out is never through extremism.”

CONSTITUTIONAL PATH: Discussing the situation with reporters in Ramallah, West Bank, earlier in the day during her visit to the Palestinian territories, Condoleezza Rice exhorted Gen Musharraf to sever his affiliation with the army and restore civilian rule.

“I want to be very clear. We believe that the best path for Pakistan is to quickly return to a constitutional path and then to hold elections,” she said, adding that the president must follow through on past promises to “take off his uniform”.And the Pentagon said that it was postponing a meeting scheduled for this week in Islamabad between senior U.S. and Pakistani defense officials.

NIGHTMARE: White House hopefuls fretted over the “nightmare” potential of the Pakistan crisis on Monday, as Democrats used the crackdown to pound President Bush’s “war on terror” policies.

Republicans agonised over the threat of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of radical Islamist groups, should the Musharraf government eventually fall.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said she opposed Gen Musharraf’s move, but pinned a large portion of the blame for the situation in Pakistan on the Bush administration’s management of relations with a key ally.—Agencies