Musharraf Bids Farewell To Fellow Generals
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — President Musharraf bid farewell to his fellow generals yesterday, a day before quitting as army chief in a move that could ease Pakistan’s political crisis.
Opponents welcomed General Musharraf’s belated conversion to civilian rule and appeared to pull back from a threat to boycott January’s parliamentary elections. The former prime minister General Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, Nawaz Sharif, said General 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 Mr. Sharif kept up his rhetoric against the general, insisting that General Musharraf lift a state of emergency imposed to prolong his rule.
General Musharraf faces adamant calls from critics at home and abroad to lift the emergency imposed on November 3.
