Musharraf Opponents Eye Jan. Elections

Despite their protests that parliamentary elections will be a sham, Pakistan's political opposition seemed Friday to be lining up for a chance to take part - with one former prime minister readying her candidates and another taking steps to return from exile.

Meanwhile, a pliant Supreme Court installed by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf gave the military ruler further legal cover, ruling that the state of emergency he declared on Nov. 3 was legal. The court on Thursday had ruled that Musharraf could become a civilian president, clearing the way for a new five-year term.

Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum told The Associated Press that the court decision - which was sent late Friday to the Election Commission for ratification - gave Musharraf until Dec. 1 to step down as army chief and take the oath of office as a civilian president. Qayyum has said Musharraf could quit his army post as early as this weekend, though no date has been set.

The general has repeatedly pledged to give up his military position by the end of the month, in hopes of cooling domestic and foreign criticism of his crackdown, which included the jailing of thousands of opponents and a clampdown on both the judiciary and the country's media. Most opponents have been freed in recent days, and all but one of the news channels are back on the air.

But it was the political maneuvering of two former prime ministers - Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif - that was producing the most intrigue in an ever-shifting political landscape.

Until recently, Pakistan's two main opposition parties - Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and Sharif's faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, known as PML-N - had been discussing a boycott of parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 8, saying any vote held under emergency rule lacked legitimacy.

But they have been changing their tune.

Bhutto was in the capital, Islamabad, on Friday as she prepared to submit a list of candidates for the vote ahead of a Monday deadline. While she says she has not made a final decision whether to take part, she indicated in comments Thursday that she did not want to hand Musharraf a "walkover" victory by staying away.

A powerful religious coalition, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, has also said it would file papers and was leaning toward participating in the vote, as long as other opposition parties did too.

Sharif was meeting with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on Friday in an attempt to win support for a return home ahead of the vote.

A senior leader of his party told The Associated Press on Saturday that Sharif would return home Sunday from Saudi Arabia.

"Nawaz Sharif and other members of his family are coming back to (the eastern Pakistani city of) Lahore on Sunday," Sadique al-Farooq said.

Speculation that Saudi Arabia wanted Sharif to go home had been rife since Musharraf made a surprise trip to the Saudi capital for talks with Abdullah on Tuesday. Presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi declined to say what Musharraf would do if the man he ousted in 1999 tried to enter Pakistan. The last time the former prime minister - one of the general's most vehement critics - tried to return, he was swiftly deported.

A senior official at the presidency told AP on Friday that Musharraf had "softened" his stance toward Sharif, and was hoping for some level of reconciliation, raising the possibility that Musharraf might try to ally himself with the man he toppled, in order to freeze Bhutto out.

"The hope is that he (Sharif) will not act like Benazir Bhutto, who is following the politics of confrontation," the official said. "If he agrees to do it, he will be allowed to return home even before the elections."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said close associates of Sharif and Musharraf were in touch to see how they could end their feud.

While a complete boycott of the Jan. 8 poll would be disastrous for Musharraf - belying his claims that he has navigated the nation on a path toward democracy - participation by both major opposition parties could prove equally tricky, particularly if they form a coalition against him.

Tariq Azim, a spokesman for the pro-Musharraf PML-Q party, said his party was confident of a good result in the elections.

"We would be happy to face Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif, or even both together," he told AP. "We are fully prepared....We will give them a tough fight."

Analysts say Musharraf could play Sharif's return to his advantage - if he can keep the opposition split - by claiming that he has finally brought a measure of real democracy back to Pakistan.

"If the major parties do take part in elections, then the crisis will be largely over because the vote will provide the legitimacy and credibility Musharraf needs," said Ayaz Amir, a former lawmaker who is a columnist for the respected Dawn newspaper. "This fits into what the international backers of Pakistan also want, an orderly transition."

Amir predicted that the emergency imposed on Nov. 3 would be lifted ahead of January's ballot, "because all of the aims of the emergency will have been achieved."

Also Friday, the government condemned the decision by the Commonwealth, a 53-nation grouping comprised mainly of Britain and its former colonies, to suspend its membership. Pakistan said the decision was "unreasonable and unjustified" and failed to appreciate Pakistan's "serious internal crisis."