Pakistani Prime Minister sworn in

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has sworn in new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.The ceremony came after parliament elected the top official from assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's party.In an apparent snub to the increasingly isolated Musharraf, Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and their son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who together lead her party, declined to attend the ceremony at the presidency."Long live Bhutto," one of the guests at the ceremony shouted as Gilani completed his oath.Musharraf's popularity has eroded over the last year and his political allies were soundly beaten in parliamentary elections won by Bhutto's party weeks after she was assassinated.Also invited to the swearing-in was former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whose party came second to Bhutto's party in the election, state television said, but he too declined to attend.One of the first actions of Pakistan's new prime minister was to order the release of judges detained by president Pervez Musharraf.Police immediately removed barricades from outside the house of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges who had been held under house arrest.Cheering supporters thronged the front garden of Chaudhry's house and he came onto a balcony to address them, saying: "I thank all of you and the entire nation on my behalf and on behalf of the judges of the superior judiciary who have been detained illegally and unconstitutionally."Mr Gilani, who was jailed by the Musharraf regime in 2001, was elected the troubled country's new prime minister by 264 votes to just 42 cast in support of president Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League.He marked the victory by calling for a UN investigation into Mrs Bhutto's assassination on December 27 last year.Mr Gilani told the assembly: "It is because of the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto that democracy is being restored. It is a historic event."© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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ITN | March 25, 2008

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