Bending to political realities, former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif abandoned his threat to boycott next month's parliamentary elections, agreeing Sunday to allow his party to compete in the Jan. 8 vote aimed at restoring democratic rule.His decision means both major opposition parties, the other headed by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, will contest next month's vote.
But the move marks an embarrassing, if not unexpected, about-face for Sharif. The two-time prime minister had insisted his party would not put up candidates unless President Pervez Musharraf reinstated the judges fired on Nov. 3 when he suspended the Constitution and imposed a state of emergency.
Restoring the former judiciary has been the central demand of lawyers, judges and students who have been at the forefront of small but tenacious demonstrations against Musharraf.
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