By IINA
Islamabad : Pakistan’s new Prime MinisterYusuf Raza Gillani has told parliament that his top priority will be the fight against terrorism. Setting out plans for the first 100 days of his coalition government, he told MPs that “terrorism and extremism” were the country’s “greatest problems”. The National Assembly endorsed him with a vote of confidence. Gillani is a member of the Pakistan People’s Party, whose leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December. He was sworn in as prime minister on Tuesday at the head of a coalition between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The parties’ success in the 18 February general election was seen as a blow to President Pervez Musharraf. “It is our first priority to bring peace to the country and fight terrorism,” BBC reported quoting him as saying. The government, he added, was willing to talk to militants who laid down their arms. Gillani announced measures that could lead to integrating Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas into the rest of the country, granting tribesmen political and social rights they do not currently have. The prime minister promised to reduce perks for government ministers, a gesture acknowledging the growing economic hardships for most Pakistanis.
He announced a series of measures to relieve their plight, including urgent steps to deal with a severe power crisis. Gillani also lifted a ban on student and trade unions, abolished more than two decades ago. After being approved by parliament on Monday, Gillani’s first move was to order the release of top judges detained when President Musharraf imposed emergency rule in November. The judges were dismissed just before they were due to decide on the legality of the president’s re-election last year. Dozens of judges were released during the week, including the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who had been under house arrest in Islamabad. It is the first time in 12 years that the PPP heads a government.