Pakistan’s new parliament holds first session

March 18th, 2008 Sana · No Comments

Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, March 17: Pakistan inaugurated a new parliament today dominated by opponents of President Pervez Musharraf who have vowed to crimp his powers and review his US-backed policies against Al Qaida and the Taliban.

At stake is the future course and political stability of the nuclear-armed nation of 160 million people, which is struggling against economic problems as well as Islamic militants.
Elections last month in which President Musharraf’s allies were routed illustrated the growing unhappiness with the former general, who dominated Pakistan’s politics during eight years of military rule.

Sen. Tariq Azim, a Musharraf loyalist, hailed the inauguration of the lower house as a “step toward political stability.” But the transition to democracy is proving politically turbulent.

In a brief ceremony in the National Assembly, more than 300 of the newly elected lawmakers stood and repeated the oath of office at the prompting of the lower House’s outgoing Speaker.

Musharraf stayed away. But the widower of slain Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister whose government President Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, watched benevolently from the gallery. Their presence shows “the people of Pakistan have rejected” President Musharraf’s takeover, said Mr Ahsan Iqbal, a lawmaker for Sharif’s party who jumped to his feet shortly after the swearing-in.

“This is the first step for democracy,” Bhutto’s husband, Mr Asif Ali Zardari, told reporters earlier. “Democracy is the last step for dictatorship.” The new civilian leaders, who have yet to announce which will front their planned coalition government, will be looking to assert their authority as Musharraf, who quit the army in November, maneuvers to cling to the presidency.