Musharraf Bids Army Farewell

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - A grim-faced President Pervez Musharraf bid farewell to his fellow generals Tuesday, a day before quitting as army chief in a move that could ease Pakistan's political crisis.

Opponents welcomed Musharraf's belated conversion to civilian rule and appeared to pull back from a threat to boycott January's parliamentary elections.

Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, said that Musharraf's conversion to a civilian president would make "a lot of difference."

He said he would only refuse to participate in the vote if all opposition parties also agreed to do so.

Sharif kept up his rhetoric against the general, however, insisting that Musharraf lift a state of emergency imposed to prolong his rule.

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

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

On Tuesday, he 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 honor of about 150 army, navy and air force troops stood at attention as Musharraf arrived at the colonial-style army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

A military band played the national anthem as 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 traveled to the headquarters of the navy and air force in the nearby capital, Islamabad, for more farewell salutes.

He made no comment to reporters, who were allowed to watch and film some of the events.