Karachi, Dec 5: The United States Consular General, K Anski, has hoped that President Pervez Musharraf would lift the emergency and the Privisional Constitutional Order (PCO) on December 16.

Anski said she was visiting various parts of the country, particularly the Sindh province, and had found that Musharraf had taken some steps which might rightly be described as confidence building measures, something the US Government is really interested in.

She suggested that the political parties should take part in the January 8 general election.

Anski said Musharraf had assured the international community of holding fair, free and transparent elections in Pakistan.

She said the US also was deeply concerned about the arrest of political leaders, lawyers and civil society representatives and wanted immediate release of all such prisoners.

Commenting on the freedom of media, Anski said lifting the emergency would ultimately relax the ban on media, The News reported.

She said the US government had reiterated upon Musharraf to restore the transmission of Geo News without any further delay. (ANI)