New Pakistani PM orders release of detained judges

A loyalist of assassinated Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was elected Prime Minister yesterday and he immediately ordered the release of judges whom President Pervez Musharraf detained in November.

The National Assembly elected Yousaf Raza Gilani Prime Minister five weeks after Mrs Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and its allies dealt the main party that backs President Musharraf a stunning election defeat.

In a challenge to the increasingly isolated President Musharraf, Mr Gilani ordered the immediate release of judges detained after the President declared emergency rule and he also called for a UN investigation into Mrs Bhutto's assassination on December 27.

Mr Gilani won with 264 votes in the 342-seat Lower House of Parliament. The only other contender, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of the Pakistan Muslim League that backs Mr Musharraf, got 42 votes.

The announcement of the result triggered cheers and shouts of "long live Bhutto" and "go Musharraf, go" from supporters in the Parliament's visitors' gallery. Mrs Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, was also in the gallery and was seen wiping away a tear.

"It is because of the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto that democracy is being restored. It is a historic event," Mr Gilani told the assembly.

Mr Gilani, a soft-spoken but resolute man, was jailed in 2001 by the Musharraf government on charges of making illegal appointments. He said the charges were aimed at pressuring him to abandon Mrs Bhutto, which he refused to do. He was freed in 2006.

Mr Gilani opposes the military's involvement in politics and has called for the repeal of constitutional changes made by Mr Musharraf to bolster his authority, including the power to dismiss a government. He said his government would strengthen Parliament and other institutions including the judiciary.

He held out an olive branch to the opposition, saying they would be respected, but his order for the release of the judges, though expected, set a tone of confrontation with Mr Musharraf.

Minutes later, authorities removed barricades from outside the house of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges held under house arrest.

Cheering supporters soon thronged the front garden of Mr Justice Chaudhry's house and he came onto a balcony to greet them.

"I thank all of you and the entire nation on my behalf and on behalf of the judges of the superior judiciary who have been detained illegally and unconstitutionally," he said.