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.

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.