Islamabad (AsiaNews/ Agencies) – Yusuf Raza Gillani was sworn in this morning as the new Pakistani Prime Minister. Gillani is the vice president of the Pakistan People’s Party (Ppp), the party of the late Benazir Butto, which won in recent elections. Yesterday, immediately after his election in parliament, Gillani’s first act was to order the release of all judges arrested by president Musharraf during the state of emergency imposed in October.
Among the first to be placed under house arrest at the time was Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. Chaudhry had threatened to render Musharraf’s re-election to the presidency invalid.
Yusuf Raza Gillani is an experienced politician who already held the post of Parliament speaker from 1993 to 1996. In 2001 Muharraf ordered his arrest for “abuse of power”: all of his party leaders were arrested along with him. Gillani spent 5 years in prison and was released in 2006.
Following his election as Prime Minister, during his inaugural speech, he promised to seek a UN inquiry into the assassination of Ppp leader Benazir Butto, on December 27th in an attack.
Gillani is now expected to form a new government, open to cooperation with Nawaz Sharia’s party, the Muslim League N. Both parties emerged victors from elections against Musharraf’s party and the military.