Pakistan election campaign begins

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 10 (AP): Pakistan's election campaign began in earnest Monday, a day after former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dropped threats to boycott the balloting to protest President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of a state of emergency.
Sharif embarked on a tour of the country to stump for his Pakistan Muslim League-N party, even though election authorities have rejected his own candidacy.
The two-time prime minister was to address a rally Monday in the central city of Faisalabad and proceed to Multan, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Karachi and Peshawar in the coming days, party officials said.
"We will sweep the elections if given a level playing field," said Sadiq ul-Farooq, a senior party leader.
Greater participation will make the parliamentary elections look more open, bolstering Musharraf's democratic credentials, which took a hit over his November 3 declaration of a state of emergency and his dismissal of independent-minded judges.
But having powerful opponents like Sharif and another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, in the field could siphon off votes and seats from Musharraf's party, weakening the US-backed leader.
While some smaller parties still say they won't participate in the January 8 polls, the prospect of a general opposition boycott has collapsed with decisions by the two largest opposition groups to field candidates, opening the way for a three-corner fight for the right to form the next government.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party launched its election platform Monday. Education would be its top priority, Secretary General Mushahid Hussain said.
Sharif had pressed fellow opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to join a boycott, but she said Thursday that her Pakistan People's Party would participate, and Sharif's party announced Sunday that it couldn't leave the field open to its rivals.
A meeting of the All Parties Democratic Movement, comprised of 33 political groups led by Sharif's party, failed to agree on a joint stance, leaving each to decide alone whether to contest.
Musharraf's office welcomed the development.
"The more people who participate in the elections the better it will be for the future of Pakistan," presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi said.
The Islamist Jamat-e-Islami party, several nationalist parties and former cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan were still pressing for a boycott.
"By going to the polls, in fact we will give legitimacy to Pervez Musharraf and his illegal acts," said Syed Munawar Hasan, secretary general of Jamat-e-Islami.
Bhutto has said the opposition still has the option to pull out of the election race later or launch protests after the results are announced.
That will meet a key demand of his domestic opponents and foreign backers such as the United States, who want the elections to produce a stable, moderate government committed to fighting Islamic extremism.
In the latest violence, a suicide car bomber hit a bus on an army base in the town of Kamra, 30 miles northwest of Islamabad, injuring at least five children on their way to school, the military said.
A broad election boycott would have undermined Musharraf's efforts to legitimize the new presidential term he won in October.