Asking the Bush administration to continue to press Pakistan for holding free and fair elections, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the US should renew its engagement directly with the people of that country.

"The Bush Administration must continue to press Pakistan to ensure that the coming election is free and fair. It is important to note that the 9/11 commission's recommendations conditioned US assistance to Pakistan by the cooperation on government with global efforts against terrorism," Pelosi said.

"In the weeks that have followed Bhutto's death, the Musharraf government continues to deny the Pakistani people a full accounting of the assassination and the events that followed. There must be a strong international investigation of this despicable crime.

"I acknowledge that the government has accepted assistance from Scotland Yard. But it has delayed scheduled parliamentary elections while continuing to jail democratic activists, suppress journalists, and shut out international monitors," she said while discussing a resolution on Bhutto's assassination tabled by Senior Democrat Gary Ackerman.

The House passed the resolution by a margin of 413 to 0.

The resolution condemned the assassination of Bhutto and reaffirmed the commitment of the US to assist Pakistan in combating terrorism.