U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday called on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to hold planned elections and to step down from the military. "My message was very plain, very easy to understand: The United States wants you to have the elections as scheduled, and I want you to take the uniform off," Bush said of his telephone conversation with Musharraf earlier in the day. Sarkozy, who is currently on a visit to the United States, agreed that the elections must take place as scheduled. "We need to have elections [in Pakistan] as swiftly as possible," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Sarkozy made an address at the Congress. It was the first speech, which marks the first address by a French leader since President Jacques Chirac's appearance in 1996.
