Gilani to be PM for 'full five-year term'

In an interview to a leading Pakistani newspaper published on Monday, the PPP co-chairman dispelled the impression that Gilani was chosen as an interim prime minister for a few months until the PPP chairman's entry into the assembly through a by-election.

Bilawal said Gilani would be prime minister for full five-year term. "You know that Gilani Sahib slept in Aidala jail without any proper bed for three months (during his long incarceration) but he never contacted his powerful friends and influential relatives for help; he remained loyal to the party during his four years jail time," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

"We have a lot of respect for him and he was the best available choice from the PPP for the post of PM," Zardari said.

Of the past prime ministers, Liaquat Ali Khan, the first and an independence hero, was shot dead by an assassin in 1951 at Rawalpindi and at the garden ground, where on December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto was also murdered.

Timeline: List of PMs

• Liaquat Ali Khan (1947-1951)
• Al Haj Khwaja Nazimuddin (1951-1953)
• Mohammad Ali Bogra (1953-1955)
• Chaudhry Mohammad Ali (1955-1956)
• Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy (1956-1957)
• Esmail I. Chundrigar (1957)
• Malek Firoz Khan Noon (1957-1958)
• Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1973-1977)
• Mohammad Khan Junejo (1985-1988)
• Benazir Bhutto (1988-1990)
• Gulam Mustafa Jatoi (caretaker prime minister 1990)
• Nawaz Sharif (1990-1993)
• Mir Balakh Sher Mazari (caretaker prime minister 1993)
• Moeen Qureshi (caretaker prime minister 1993)
• Benazir Bhutto (1993-1996)
• Malek Meraj Khalid (caretaker prime minister 1996-1997)
• Nawaz Sharif (1997-1999)
• Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali (2002-2004)
• Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain (2004)
• Shaukat Aziz (2004-2007)
• Mohammadmian Soomro (caretaker prime minister 2007-2008)
• Yousuf Raza Gilani (2008 -)

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