Yousaf Raza Gilani was administered to oath as Pakistan’s new prime minister by President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday morning.
Gilani is the country’s 25th Prime Minister and the first premier from the Pakistan People’s Party who is not a member of the Bhutto family. PPP leaders shouted “Jiay Bhutto” (Long live Bhutto) as the oath was completed.
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the two key leaders of the parties that have formed Pakistan’s new coalition government, did not attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Bhutto’s teenage son Bilawal, PPP chairman after Benazir Bhutto, too was conspicuous by his absence. He was the joint candidate of the PPP, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), the Awami National Party and Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (Fazal).Gillani was immediately called for the United Nations to investigate last December’s assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.