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Gillani sworn in as Pakistan's 25th PM
LAST UPDATE: Wednesday, 26 Mar 2008 - 1:41:37 AM
ISLAMABAD: Yousuf Raza Gillani, a Bhutto loyalist, was on Tuesday sworn-in as Pakistan's 25th Prime Minister and he vowed to strengthen parliament, as two top us envoys held talks in an apparent attempt to seek the new government's support for the 'war on terror'.
Clad in a black traditional sherwani, the 55-year-old journalism post-graduate from Punjab province was administered the oath of office by President Pervez Musharraf, who faced fresh calls from former premier and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.
Deputy secretary of state John Negroponte and assistant secretary of state Richard Boucher held talks with both Musharraf and Sharif. But Sharif's remarks after the meeting appeared to suggest that the new government would not toe the us line when he said Pakistan wanted to see peace everywhere in the world but not at the cost of its own security.
Both Gillani and Sharif spoke of parliament's supremacy and that it would decide all National issues.
In a snub to Musharraf, key coalition leaders including Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, her son Bilawal and Nawaz Sharif, stayed away from the swearing-in at the central hall of Aiwan-E-Sadr or presidency.
After the stiff ceremony, the new premier said Pakistan's 160 million people had voted for change in last month's elections in which PPP emerged as the single largest party.
“It's a reflection, the way people voted, of what kind of manifesto and government they wanted to bring to power,” said Gilani who appeared to take on Musharraf on Monday when he ordered the immediate release of judges detained by the president under emergency rule in November.
But he added that he would “like to strengthen parliament and the presidency is part of it.” Musharraf on his part said “I will always extend my fullest cooperation to him(Gillani) I congratulate him.”
“I believe all forces should be united... Because the period which is coming is a difficult period in the context of terrorism, of militancy, of the economy,” Musharraf said.
“All sides should work together in a balanced way.” After his talks with us envoys, Sharif, whose PML-N is a key constituent of the PPP-led coalition, also said Musharraf must step down and not become “a burden” on the new parliament.
Noting that last month's general election had thrown up a “split mandate”, Gillani said “the job of pulling Pakistan out of the crises confronting it is not the job of one party. All forces have to come together to tackle these problems.”
Gillani made it clear he would work with everyone to tackle pressing issues like the fight against terrorism and Pakistan's economic problems.
“For this we need the support of everyone. What is parliament? Parliament is the President, the National assembly and the senate. We will work for the supremacy of parliament so that we can unite to pull the country out of crises,” he said.
“As an old parliamentarian and from my personal experiences, I have learnt that institutions must be strengthened.” Sharif had earlier announced that he would boycott the swearing-in ceremony in view of the presence of Musharraf, whom he calls an “unconstitutional” President.
The reason for the absence of Bilawal and Zardari was not explained. PPP leaders shouted “jiye Bhutto” (long live Bhutto) at the conclusion of the ceremony where Gillani and Musharraf were seated side-by-side on a raised dais and flanked by two honour guards with white and gold-braided uniform.
Musharraf shook hands with Gillani and spoke to him briefly before joining the guests.
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