Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday took oath as country's new Prime Minister for a term of five years. President Pervez Musharraf administered oath to the country's 22nd Prime Minister at the Aiwan-e-Sadr at a grand ceremony attended by prominent political leaders from across the divide.
The event was also attended by National Assembly Speaker, Fehmida Mirza; Deputy Speaker, Faisal Karim Kundi; outgoing caretaker Prime Minister, Mohammadmian Soomro; Governors of all the provinces; First Lady, Begum Sehba Musharraf; Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Tariq Majid; Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvaiz Kayani; Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral M Tahir and Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanveer Mahmood.
The oath-taking ceremony started with the recitation from the Holy Quran. Gilani was invited to take oath of prime minister's office as provided in the Third Schedule, under the 1973 Constitution.
Under the Constitution, Gilani now has to obtain a vote of confidence from the National Assembly within a period of 60 days.
Supporters chanted "Long Live Bhutto" after Gilani, who spent five years in jail under Musharraf's regime, repeated the oath read out by the grim-faced president in a ceremony at the presidential palace.
In a snub to Musharraf, key coalition leaders including Asif Ali Zardari, her son Bilawal and former premier Nawaz Sharif stayed away from the swearing-in.
Analysts say the US is desperate to woo the new government despite its hostility to Musharraf, fearing that political instability in the nuclear-armed nation will hurt efforts to tackle Islamic militancy.
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