The United States on Thursday said that President Pervez Musharraf has not taken its advice not to impose emergency in Pakistan.
"President Musharraf oversees a sovereign nation, and we urged him not to take this step of establishing a state of emergency. He did not take our advice. We consider it a setback because it was outside of the constitution, calling that state of emergency," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.
She said that the US had been working with Pakistani authorities very cooperatively over the past several years. "We cannot underestimate the importance of the counter-terrorism cooperation that we have enjoyed with them since 9/11," she said.
"However, we noted today that President Musharraf has clarified for the Pakistani people that he will hold elections, he said, by February 15th - and we think that it was important for the Pakistani people to have heard that," Perino said.
"We have said from the beginning of this state of emergency that the President was calling on President Musharraf to hold the elections, and also to take off his uniform," she said.
Perino, however, refused to say anything when asked whether Musharraf's latest setting of a date had anything to do with Bush's telephone call on Wednesday.
"The (US) President supports everybody in Pakistan because of the importance that we place on the region. Our relationship with Pakistan has gone back and forth over the years...," she said.
Perino said Pakistan had the US support in the past and then lost favour over the decades, and then over the past several years has decided to turn its back on terrorists and extremists and to help America.
"And they have been very critical on that mission. Part of the aid package that we provide is for education and health, and helping civil society, and trying to build democratic institutions. And so the US President supports all the people of Pakistan."
"We are friends with the Pakistanis. But the President wants most of all is to help them establish a democracy that can be sustainable, because that's ultimately how the region will live in peace," she said.
The White House official was asked if Bush still has faith and confidence that Musharraf is the person to bring about sustainable democracy in Pakistan.
"The (US) President talked to President Musharraf on Wednesday. I feel confident that President Musharraf heard the President's message. We would like to see him return to those elections as he said today he would do. The uniform is still an issue. The President called on him to take it off," he said adding, "You can't be both the President and the head of the army. And we'll see where that goes".
