Bhutto in conservative northwestern Pakistan

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto held talks with her party leaders in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, the second day of her election campaign that began in the conservative ethnic Pashtun heartland, a support base for the Taliban.

They discussed political developments in the troubled North West Frontier Province, party spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. He said Bhutto would later give a news conference to local journalists.

On Saturday, Bhutto launching her election campaign, urging the people of Peshawar, the provincial capital and a stronghold of religious parties, to forsake militancy and support her secular Pakistan Peoples Party.

"I ask our Pashtun brothers to come forward for peace," she said.

Bhutto said her party "will give them security, peace and employment, and will bring development to their areas so their problems can be solved."

Her trip came amid other opposition parties' threats to boycott the Jan. 8 election unless President Pervez Musharraf reinstates several Supreme Court judges he fired after declaring emergency rule Nov. 3. The opposition parties claim he chose replacements who would let the government rig the ballot.

A boycott would be a serious blow to Musharraf's U.S.-backed effort to return Pakistan to democracy after eight years of military dictatorship.

Musharraf has said emergency rule will end Dec. 16 - as demanded by Washington and the opposition.

In her speech to the cheering crowd in Peshawar, Bhutto reiterated accusations that the authorities planned to rig the election, but she said her party hoped to take part in the vote.

Peshawar is a stronghold of locally powerful Islamic groups.

Bhutto's armored Mercedes, ringed by a police escort, did not venture beyond Peshawar. About 300 kilometers (180 miles) to the north, the army has been battling Islamic militants - who have recently been expanding their operations.

Bhutto and another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, plan to meet soon to discuss the election boycott issue. She has said she will only boycott the vote if all opposition parties do the same.

A coalition of six religious parties has also delayed a decision on the boycott and said it will consult with Bhutto.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's election commission rejected the candidacy of Sharif's politician brother, Shahbaz Sharif.

The commission said Shahbaz - who heads his brother's Pakistan Muslim League party - had defaulted on a bank loan and was allegedly involved in a 1998 murder case.

Peshawar, Sunday, AP