RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — A grim-faced Pervez Musharraf bade 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 Musharraf’s conversion to a civilian president would make “a lot of difference,” and he would only refuse to participate in the vote if all opposition parties agreed to do so as well.
But Sharif also kept up his rhetoric against the general, insisting that Musharraf lift a state of emergency imposed to prolong his rule.
On Tuesday, Musharraf took the first visible steps toward hanging up the uniform.
A guard of honor of about 150 army, navy and air-force troops stood to attention as he arrived at the colonial-style army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
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 and handshakes.
