By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, July 29 (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe tried to salvage his peace deal with right-wing paramilitaries on Sunday, offering a bill that would allow demobilized militia fighters to run for public office.

The measure is meant to stop the Supreme Court from derailing an accord hailed by the conservative leader as the biggest step toward ending Colombia's long guerrilla war.

More than 31,000 paramilitaries have turned in their guns over the last three years in a deal promising them reduced jail sentences for crimes ranging from torture to massacre.

The pact was based on the idea that former "paras" would be charged not with common crimes but with sedition, as demobilized left-wing guerrillas have been in the past. This would help them avoid cocaine-smuggling charges and protect their long-held dream of running for public office.

But because the paramilitaries never tried to overthrow the government, and even worked with sectors of the army in their common fight against leftist guerrillas, the Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that sedition does not apply.

The president over the weekend called it a double standard to allow former fighters with the M19 rebel group to serve in Congress, as some members of the disbanded guerrilla army have done, while barring the paramilitaries from doing the same.

Uribe, who denies accusations that he sympathizes with the paramilitary cause, said the court was "ideologically biased" and proposed a law to guarantee political rights to demobilized paramilitaries who are not directly guilty of atrocities.

The court issued a statement saying Uribe's comment was "a serious and dangerous form of censorship."

Uribe appeared on weekend television news shows drumming up support for the bill aimed at bypassing the court's decision.

CAMPAIGNS IN LIMBO

The paramilitaries were formed in the 1980s to protect cattle ranchers, drug lords and other rich Colombians from rebel kidnappings and land grabs. The right-wing militias grew rich on Colombia's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade and were notorious for killing peasants accused of cooperating with the guerrillas.

Rights groups say the peace deal is not strong enough in forcing the paramilitaries to dismantle their extortion and drug-trafficking networks.

Several demobilized militia members had planned to run in October elections for local government posts. Those campaigns are now in limbo as the country tries to untangle the legal issues involved.

"There is evidence that many demobilized paramilitaries are still involved in crime, so it may be premature to let them run for public office this year," said Mauricio Romero, who serves on the National Commission for Reparation and Reconciliation, a semi-independent group monitoring the demobilization.

The president's standing overseas has been damaged by a scandal in which some of his closest political allies, including his senator cousin Mario Uribe, are being investigated for illegally supporting the paramilitaries.

Colombia's biggest left-wing rebel army, the FARC, continues its four-decade-old war against the state. It refuses to talk peace with Uribe, whose father was killed by the guerrillas in a botched kidnapping more than 20 years ago.

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