The widower of late prime minister Benazir Bhutto took office as the country’s new president yesterday, facing immediate pressure to crack down on militants and address daunting economic problems.
Pakistan’s top judge swore in Asif Ali Zardari at a brief ceremony in the presidential palace recently vacated by Pervez Musharraf, who resigned under pressure last month.
With his three children among the well-wishers and dignitaries packing a cavernous hall, Zardari, wearing a pinstriped business suit, beamed as the ceremony ended and shouts of “Bhutto is alive!” rang out.
PHOTO: AP
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 Zardari, 53, completes Pakistan’s return to civilian rule nearly nine years after then-army chief Musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup.
The Taliban revived on Musharraf’s watch and al-Qaeda chiefs Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri remain on the run, probably somewhere in the uncontrolled frontier region.
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 northwest.
The Pakistani Taliban have responded with a string of suicide bombings, including one in the city of Peshawar that killed 35 people on Saturday, the same day as the presidential election by lawmakers.
Meanwhile, a rare assault by US ground troops and a series of missile strikes into Pakistan’s tribal region indicate that Washington is getting more aggressive about militant havens just beyond the Afghan border, despite intensifying Pakistani protests.
Officials said yesterday the death toll from the latest missile strike had risen to 20 after residents and militants pulled more bodies from the rubble of a seminary and houses in a village in the North Waziristan region. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the total included four suspected foreign militants.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack wouldn’t say whether there had been a dramatic escalation of coalition operations on the border.
He said Washington looked forward to working with Zardari on counterterrorism.
“They have a healthy appreciation for what’s at stake here. And we have good cooperation with this government,” McCormack said.
In the latest fighting, seven militants were killed yesterday in the Bajur region. Additionally, 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.
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