The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Lahore

US envoy John Negroponte spoke to Pakistan's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Friday and said moderate forces should work together to put the country back on a democratic path. Bhutto was released from house arrest shortly before Negroponte began a visit aimed at persuading President Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule. The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State is due to meet Musharraf on Saturday and was expected to push him to roll back the emergency invoked two weeks ago, release thousands of detainees and hold "free and fair" elections. "He reiterated t the importance of moderate forces working together in Pakistan for a better future for Pakistan and also to get Pakistan back on the pathway to constitutional rule," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack of Negroponte's telephone discussion with Bhutto. "He wanted to hear from her a little bit how she viewed the political situation in Pakistan. That is part of what he is trying to get a sense of," McCormack said in Washington.