New Pakistan president sworn in

The widower of assassinated former Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto has taken office as the country’s new president.

Pakistan’s top judge swore in Asif Ali Zardari at a ceremony in the presidential palace attended by scores of officials, politicians and foreign dignitaries.

Mr Zardari succeeds Pervez Musharraf, the former military ruler who resigned under pressure last month.

Mr Zardari, who also leads the main ruling party, faces pressure from the United States to crack down on Islamic militants along the Afghan border.

Pakistan also faces daunting economic problems, including slowing growth, soaring inflation and dangerously low foreign currency reserves.

With his three children among the well-wishers and dignitaries packing a cavernous hall, Mr Zardari, wearing a pinstriped business suit, beamed as the ceremony ended and shouts of ``Bhutto is alive!'' rang out.

But in the front row sat an imposing reminder of his task ahead: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose government accuses Pakistan of failing to take action against – and even colluding with – Taliban militants based around the countries’ common border.

The inauguration of 53-year-old Mr Zardari completes Pakistan’s return to civilian rule nearly nine years after then-army chief Gen Musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup.

The US came to depend heavily on Gen Musharraf for co-operation to capture or kill al-Qaida leaders who plotted the 9/11 attacks on America and fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in 2001 toppled their Taliban allies.

However, the Taliban revived on Gen Musharraf’s watch, and al-Qaida chiefs Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri remain on the run, probably somewhere in the uncontrolled frontier region.

Mr Zardari has made tough statements against Islamic extremism, and the army says it has killed hundreds of rebels in ongoing operations in several parts of Pakistan’s volatile north-west.

In the latest fighting, seven militants were killed today in the north-western Bajur region. And six civilians, including three children, died when mortar shells hit two houses overnight in the same region, officials said. It was not clear who fired the mortar rounds.

Yet the elected government has also sought peace talks with militants, and many Pakistanis blame the rising violence in their own country on Gen Musharraf’s close alliance with Washington.

Gen Musharraf quit reluctantly on August 18 to avoid the threat of impeachment at the hands of a coalition of parties which routed his supporters in February parliamentary elections.

Mr Zardari won a two-thirds majority when lawmakers chose among the three presidential candidates on Saturday.