Gillani takes oath as new Premier
Ruling coalition top leadership abstains ceremony
By Our Special Correspondent

ISLAMABAD—Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani Tuesday took oath as country’s new Prime Minister for a term of five years. President Pervez Musharraf administered oath to the country’s 22nd prime minister at the Aiwan-e-Sadr at a grand ceremony attended by prominent political leaders from across the divide.The event was also attended by National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza, Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi, outgoing caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro, Governors of all the provinces, First Lady Begum Sehba Musharraf, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majid, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvaiz Kayani, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Tahir and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tanveer Mahmood.
Yousaf Raza Gilani was elected by the National Assembly Monday evening by securing 264 votes, against PML (Q)’s Ch Pervaiz Elahi gaining 42 votes. The voting was through division. The Speaker National Assembly Fehmida Mirza intimated the President in writing about the result of the house election the same evening. “The President shall invite the member of National Assembly to be the Prime Minister, who commands the confidence of the members of the National Assembly,” Article 91 (2A) of the Constitution says.
The oath-taking ceremony started with the recitation from the Holy Quran. Yousaf Raza Gilani was invited to take oath of prime minister’s office as provided in the Third Schedule, under the 1973 constitution. Attired in a black sherwani, Prime Minister Gilani read the oath. Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had won from NA-151 Multan-IV securing 77664 votes against Sikandar Hayat Khan Bossan of Pakistan Muslim League who secured 45765 votes.
Under the constitution, Yousaf Raza Gilani now has to obtain a vote of confidence from the National Assembly within a period of 60 days. Top political leadership of the new coalition government including Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif did not turn-up to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.The Presidency had invited top leadership of all major political leaders to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the new Prime Minister. However, apart from a representative delegation from PPP and MQM, the rest did not turn up. The politicians who did not attend the ceremony despite formal invitation included PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Muslim League’s leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, JUI Chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman, ANP Chief Asfand Yar Wali, and PML (Q) leaders Ch Shujaat Hussain, Ch Pervaiz Elahi and Hamid Nasir Chatta.
Secretary Finance Pakistan Peoples Party Babar Awan said a “high-powered delegation” comprising two from the central executive committee and around 20 others including Secretary General Jehangir Badr, Pir Aftab Shah Gillani, Afzal Sindhu and Senator Sardar Latif Khan Khosa attended the event. “The Chairman has authorized us to go and represent the party,” Babar Awan said.
“We have also represented the sentiments of the party,” he said recalling the slogans of “Jeay-e-Bhutto” [long-live Bhutto] and “charon soobon ke zanjir - Benazir” - [Bhutto-the chain linking four provinces], he and others raised after Gilani’s oath-taking. On behalf of the entire delegation, he said, “we have mixed feelings, of a great loss to the nation.