Last day of dictatorship: Zardari

Pakistan’s Western allies and neighbours fear a confrontation between the president and a new government will herald more upheavals in a nuclear-armed state reeling from a wave of militant bombings.

Security was tight at parliament, with police and paramilitary soldiers guarding the complex and restricting traffic on the avenue outside.

The February election saw the PPP emerging with the most seats in the 342-member National Assembly, but not enough to rule alone. The party of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister then army chief Musharraf overthrew in a 1999 coup, came second, dealing a crushing defeat to the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League.

Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto’s widower and political successor, signed an agreement this month to form a coalition with a small regional party and a religious party.

Neither Zardari nor Sharif stood in the election but both turned up at parliament to watch the proceedings together from the visitors’ gallery.

“It’s the first step for democracy. We have sent this message to the world that democracy should be helped and democracy is the last day of dictatorship,” Zardari told reporters.

In a sign of looming confrontation with the isolated president, a PPP politician said members were taking their oaths under an old, democratic constitution, not the version Musharraf amended after he imposed emergency rule in November.

Shortly after being sworn in, the assembly said prayers for Bhutto, killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi on December 27. Her party has yet to decide on its candidate for the post of prime minister. Makhdoom Amin Fahim, a senior aide to Bhutto and Zardari’s deputy, had been favourite. There have been growing calls from within the PPP for Zardari to take up the job, but for now he is not eligible as he is not a National Assembly member.

Man with pistol held

A man armed with a pistol was arrested at the main gate of the tightly-guarded Pakistani parliament just as PPP Chairman Asif Ali Zardari arrived at the building ahead of the maiden session of the new National Assembly. The man, whose identity was yet to be established was overpowered by Zardari’s private security guards and handed over to police. It was not clear how the man had managed to enter the parliament complex with a weapon despite the unprecedented security arrangements.