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Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf swore in a loyalist of Benazir Bhutto as prime minister yesterday, as two top US envoys held talks with Pakistan's old and new leaders.
A key figure in the new government said it would review Musharraf's strategy against Islamist extremism and that Pakistan - wracked by suicide bombs - must not be sacrificed to ease terrorist threats elsewhere.
Yousaf Raza Gilani, who will front the incoming civilian-led administration, took the oath from the US-backed president at a stiff ceremony in Islamabad.
Seated side-by-side on a raised dais and flanked by two honour guards with white and gold-braided uniform, Gilani followed Musharraf's lead in reading the oath of office.
Members of Gilani's party chanted "Long Live Bhutto!" after the formalities were complete.
Musharraf betrayed no emotion during the ceremony but gave Gilani a firm handshake and chatted amiably with him as they headed for refreshments in the presidential palace.
"I congratulate Yousaf Raza Gilani and my cooperation will always remain with him," Musharraf told state-run television afterward.
Gilani, leading a civilian government after eight years of military rule, appealed for national unity to tackle the crises facing Pakistan, particularly economic problems.
"We have to give supremacy to the parliament so that we can jointly take the country out of these crises," he said.
However, the new government will include the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted when Musharraf first seized power in a military coup in 1999 and is demanding the president's resignation.
Power shift
The coalition partners have vowed to shift power from the presidency to parliament and review Musharraf's counterterrorism policies.
The new civilian rulers have said they would negotiate with some militant groups - an approach that has drawn US criticism in the past.
American Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher arrived in Islamabad yesterday and held talks with Sharif just as the new premier was being sworn in. They then visited Musharraf at the presidential palace.
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