Musharraf bids farewell to military generals

A grim-faced Pervez Musharraf took leave from his fellow generals today, a day before quitting as army chief in a move that could ease Pakistan's political crisis.

Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, kept up his rhetoric against the general, insisting that he undo steps taken under a state of emergency to prolong his rule.

But he softened his threat to boycott crucial elections, saying Musharraf's conversion to a civilian president will make "a lot of difference" and that he would only boycott the vote if all opposition parties agreed.

Musharraf faces increasingly adamant calls from critics at home and abroad to lift the emergency imposed on November 3 and make good on a long-standing pledge to restore civilian rule.

To calm the turmoil, he has released thousands of opponents rounded up under his extraordinary powers and let all but one of Pakistan's independent news channels go back on air.

He also took the first visible steps toward hanging up the uniform on which his eight-year domination of this nuclear-armed country of 160 million people has depended.

A guard of honour of about 150 army, navy and air force troops stood to attention as Musharraf arrived at the army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The colonial-style complex contains Musharraf's office.

A military band played the national anthem as an unsmiling Musharraf, wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, a green-and-white sash over his uniform and more than a dozen medals on his chest, inspected the troops on a small parade ground.

He held a brief closed-door meeting with other top army commanders, then travelled to the head offices of the navy and air force in the nearby capital, Islamabad, for more farewell salutes and handshakes.

Musharraf made no comment to reporters allowed to watch and film some of the events.

Musharraf insists that his continued rule as president is vital if Pakistan, which faces an increasingly violent onslaught from Islamic extremists, is to remain stable as it reverts to democracy.

To secure his position, Musharraf has abrogated the constitution and purged the Supreme Court, which was about to rule on the legality of his victory in a presidential election held in October.

Pliant judges in the retooled court last week dismissed opposition complaints that Musharraf's retention of his military role disqualified him from running from elected office.

That manoeuvre and the crackdown on dissent has dealt a heavy blow to his relations with Benazir Bhutto, another former prime minister who has returned from exile and who shares his secularist, pro-Western views.

Bhutto, who has twice been put under house arrest to stop her leading protests, has joined Sharif in denouncing Musharraf's backsliding on democracy.

However, she and Sharif are also fierce political rivals, and there are doubts that they can forge a united front to force Musharraf out completely. Bhutto says she is reluctant to leave the field open to pro-government parties.

Musharraf is to appear in uniform for the last time on Wednesday as he hands over his command to Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, a former chief of the powerful ISI intelligence service.

Kayani, a close associate of Musharraf, is widely expected to maintain the army's pro-Western policies and an official insisted Tuesday that the switch would bring no change in Pakistan's determination to fight terrorism.

"Uniform or no uniform, it would not impact our war on terror," Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.

Sharif, who returned from Saudi Arabia on Sunday, went on CNN in September to calm doubts about his commitment to battling the Taliban and al-Qaida.

"You can't fight terror the way Mr Musharraf is fighting. He needs the threat of terror for his own survival. We will fight out of conviction," he said then.

But Sharif, a conservative with good relations with Pakistan's religious parties, is now reaching out to the many Pakistanis who disagree with sending the army to fight militants along the Afghan border and who deride Musharraf as a US stooge.

"If the outside world declares somebody a terrorist, we shall not act on it blindly," he told reporters at the Press Club in his home city of Lahore. "We are against extremism and terrorism. But it doesn't mean to allow foreign countries to bomb our people."

That posture could entice some voters away from Bhutto, who has wooed America, Pakistan's biggest sponsor, by suggesting she might let US troops strike at Osama bin Laden if he is located in Pakistan.

However, it remains unclear whether Sharif can assemble a slate of candidates strong enough to challenge the pro-Musharraf ruling party or Bhutto's party in January.

Still, a day after filing his nomination papers, he gave the strongest hint yet that he would actually take part.

"If all political parties agree, I think we should boycott the polls because it is a lethal weapon," Sharif said. "But if we don't get an agreement we should try to reach our objectives in the polls."