Pakistan frees detained judges

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — To thunderous applause from fellow lawmakers and a packed visitors gallery, the newly chosen prime minister of Pakistan on Monday immediately released the judges detained by President Pervez Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule last year.

In a wildly ebullient parliamentary session with a heavy anti-Musharraf mood, the new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, of the Pakistan Peoples Party, also said he would seek a formal U.N. inquiry into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister killed after a speech on Dec. 27.

"Our slain leader Benazir Bhutto sacrificed her life for the cause of democracy and now it is our responsibility to strengthen the democratic institutions in line with the aspirations of common people," Gillani said.

His first acts as prime minister came shortly after Gillani was officially chosen by an overwhelming majority of legislators in the 342-seat lower house of the parliament. He won 264 votes while his challenger, Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, an ally of Musharraf, got 42.

Gillani, 55, a politician from Punjab province, was named as the prime ministerial candidate by Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Bhutto and the co-chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party, over the weekend.

He will lead a coalition of political parties opposed to the rule of Musharraf, the former general who came to power in a military coup nine years ago and is considered an important ally of the United States in the war against terrorism but is increasingly unpopular in his own country.

Public sentiment here has turned sharply and steadily against Musharraf ever since he tried to dismiss Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, last fall. In the general elections held early this year, opposition parties were victorious.

Gillani will formally take oath from Musharraf today.

"No front- line member of the Parliament will attend the oath-taking ceremony" said Sherry Rehman, a member of Parliament who is also the information secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party, in a sign of the anti-Musharraf mood among lawmakers.

As Dr. Fehmida Mirza, the speaker of the national assembly, announced the result of voting and Gillani shook hands with members of the parliament, the assembly hall erupted with anti-Musharraf slogans.

Gillani, wearing a dark blue business suite, proceeded to shake hands with a teary-eyed Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 19-year old son of Bhutto, who is the other co-chairman, with his father, of the Pakistan Peoples Party.