Musharraf gloomy as new Pakistani PM is sworn in

The new Pakistani prime minister was sworn in by President Pervez Musharraf yesterday, as two senior US envoys arrived in an apparent bid to shore up Islamabad's support for the "war on terror."

Yousuf Raza Gilani, a top aide of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, was elected prime minister on Monday by parliament, where an anti-Musharraf coalition won a huge majority in elections last month.

The volatile situation facing Musharraf, a key US ally against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, was underscored when Gilani on Monday freed judges who were detained by the president because they threatened his grip on power.

Supporters chanted "Long live Bhutto" after Gilani finished repeating the oath read out by a grim-faced Musharraf in a ceremony at the presidential palace.

In a snub to Musharraf, key coalition leaders -- including Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, her son Bilawal and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif -- stayed away from the swearing-in.

Musharraf told state TV after the ceremony that he would "always extend my fullest cooperation" to Gilani, saying the country faced a "difficult period" from Islamic militancy.

Standing beside him, Gilani, who spent five years in jail under Musharraf's government on corruption charges, said last month's elections showed that people wanted change.

After the ceremony, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher met Musharraf for 90 minutes, officials said.

Analysts say the US is now desperate to woo the new coalition government despite its hostility to Musharraf, fearing that political instability in the nuclear-armed country could hurt efforts to tackle Islamic militancy.

Minutes after being elected on Monday, Gilani ordered the release of the chief justice and other judges who had been held since Musharraf sacked them under a state of emergency in November.