The US on Thursday stepped up pressure on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Images] to quit as army chief ahead of a visit by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte who is expected to press the military ruler to lift emergency.

US Consul General Bryan D Hunt, who met former premier Benazir Bhutto [Images] in the residence of a Pakistan People's Party leader, where she is under house arrest, reiterated Washington's demand that Musharraf doff his uniform.

Negroponte, expected to arrive in Islamabad late on Thursday, will meet senior Pakistani officials on Friday though it was not immediately known if he would call on Musharraf.

Hunt, who conveyed to Bhutto the "continuing US government concern" about emergency, said, "Our view is that the government of Pakistan needs to move as rapidly as possible to restore the normal democratic order."

This, he told reporters, "involves the president resigning his role as chief of army staff" and the government moving "as rapidly as possible to have free and fair elections (that are) held on time."

"We hope that as part of that we will be able to see the government taking the necessary steps to allow opposition parties to be able to conduct political campaigns. We continue to call upon the government to allow the media to do its job to ensure a free and independent press so that the people of Pakistan have the information they need to make important decisions," Hunt said.

He also urged the government to release detained opposition leaders and rights activists.