ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Pervez Musharraf released thousands of opponents from jails yesterday in a sign he is rolling back a wave of repression under emergency rule, and he flew to Saudi Arabia to talk about the future of an exiled rival, Nawaz Sharif.

Saudi officials said efforts were made to arrange a meeting between General Musharraf and Mr. Sharif, who was ousted as prime minister by the general’s 1999 coup. However, a Pakistani official said General Musharraf’s goal was to prevent Mr. Sharif from returning before parliamentary elections January 8.

Back home, the political cauldron continued to boil, with dozens of journalists detained for several hours after clashing with police during a protest and newly freed opposition lawyers vowing to keep up their agitation.

But some relief also came for General Musharraf. A former premier, Benazir Bhutto, the leader of a key opposition party, deferred a decision on whether to boycott the elections, which the West hopes will produce a moderate government able to stand up to Pakistan’s rising Islamic extremism.

The Interior Ministry said 3,400 people had been released from jail, among them political activists and lawyers at the forefront of protests against General Musharraf before and after he decreed emergency rule November 3, purging the Supreme Court and taking independent TV news off the air.

A ministry spokesman, Javed Iqbal Cheema, said more than 2,000 others remained behind bars but would be released shortly. “The process has started. More are being released today,” he said.

Many high-ranking party activists and leaders, such as a former cricket star-turned-politician, Imran Khan, and the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, remained in prison. Mr. Khan began a hunger strike Monday to protest emergency rule.

The government did not say what prompted the mass release. But it came two days after a visit by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who issued a blunt call for General Musharraf to end emergency rule.

Washington and others worry the crackdown, and the political turmoil, will raise questions about the credibility of the parliamentary elections. General Musharraf critics say the vote can’t be free and fair because emergency rule restrictions will prevent his foes from campaigning effectively.

The Pakistani leader flew to Saudi Arabia yesterday on his first foreign trip since the crisis began.

While Washington remains General Musharraf’s key backer, providing billions of dollars in aid in return for Pakistan’s help against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, Saudi Arabia’s own aid and investment give it considerable influence.

Saudis, including some among the royal family, have for years financed fundamentalist Sunni Muslim clerics and schools, giving the kingdom sway among Pakistan’s powerful Islamic movements.

General Musharraf talked with Saudi security officials for several hours before meeting with King Abdullah, Saudi authorities said, without giving any details of the discussions.

An official in General Musharraf’s office in Islamabad said Saudi leaders wanted the general to let Mr. Sharif return home and compete in the elections. General Musharraf argued that Mr. Sharif, a leader in Pakistan’s other main opposition party, could not come back now because that would worsen the unrest and threaten the country’s stability, the official said.

The official said General Musharraf had privately told aides that he would be prepared to let Mr. Sharif return after the vote, provided he toned down his rhetoric against the general.

A Saudi official said General Musharraf had sought a meeting with Abdullah for a week. “He is counting on Saudi Arabia’s historic ties [with Pakistan] to help him out of this crisis,” the official said.

Both the Saudi and Pakistani officials agreed to discuss General Musharraf’s trip only if they were not quoted by name because they were not authorized to talk with journalists. Pakistani state press said General Musharraf would travel today to the Red Sea town of Jiddah, where Mr. Sharif lives, on route to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Saudi official said General Musharraf had sought to meet with Mr. Sharif as a conciliatory gesture, another official said late Tuesday that efforts were continuing to arrange a meeting.

But both the General Musharraf aide and officials in Mr. Sharif’s party said no meeting had been arranged.

Mr. Sharif’s party kept up its stiff criticism of General Musharraf, insisting he would have to agree to give up power before they would talk to him. Mr. Sharif “does not believe in talking to a dictatorial regime,” said the party’s general secretary, Iqbal Jhagra.

Ms. Bhutto, who has been edging toward forming an opposition alliance with Mr. Sharif, said Mr. Sharif did not mention meeting with General Musharraf when she spoke to Mr. Sharif on Monday. Pulling back from her attacks of the past week, she avoided criticizing the Pakistani leader directly. She said it would be a “good sign” if General Musharraf quit his second post as the powerful army chief as he has promised and ruled as a civilian president.”