Bhutto widower wins Pakistani presidency

Islamabad, Pakistan —- The widower of slain former Premier Benazir Bhutto became Pakistan’s new president Saturday after winning a landslide election victory that makes him a critical partner of the West against international terrorism.

Unofficial results announced after separate votes in the federal and provincial assemblies showed Asif Ali Zardari winning an overwhelming majority, bolstered by public loyalty to his late wife and hopes that he can pull the country out of its economic doldrums.

Pro-Zardari lawmakers, some in tears, shouted “Long live Bhutto!” as the vote tallies came in.

The couple’s two jubilant but tearful daughters, one carrying a portrait of their late mother, smiled and hugged friends in the gallery of the National Assembly.

But Saturday also brought a brutal reminder of the threats to the nuclear-armed nation’s stability as a suicide car bomber killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens near the northwestern city of Peshawar.

About 100 miles away in the volatile region, 15 residents were killed after they decided to fight back against militants operating in the area and were attacked, the military said. Nine militants were among the dead after the clashes late Friday and Saturday, it said.

The head of the main ruling party, Zardari becomes one of the most powerful civilian leaders in Pakistan’s turbulent 61-year history. Last month, he marshaled a coalition that forced longtime U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf to quit as head of state.

Zardari, a novice leader untested on the international stage and stained by past corruption allegations, takes over at a critical time for the volatile Muslim nation of more than 160 million.

The economy is crumbling, and Saturday’s attack was the latest in a string of suicide bombings usually claimed by Islamic militants who have steadily gained strength since Pakistan joined the U.S. war on terrorism in 2001.

On Saturday evening, a beaming Zardari hugged and shook hands with supporters and well-wishers gathering for a celebratory dinner in the gardens of the prime minister’s residence.

In a brief speech, he rejected criticism that he would be a divisive president and took another swipe at Musharraf.

“To those who would say that the People’s Party or the presidency would be controversial under our guardianship, under our stewardship, I would say listen to democracy,” he said.

Echoing one of his late wife’s favorite slogans, he said “democracy was the best revenge” against military rulers.

Washington is pressing Pakistan hard to eradicate Taliban and al-Qaida havens near its border with Afghanistan. A U.S.-led ground attack, said to have killed at least 15 in Pakistani territory Wednesday, sparked outrage and embarrassed Zardari’s party.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to reporters while she flew from Tunisia to Algeria, said she looked forward to working with Zardari and that with a new president, “I think we have a good way forward.”

“I’ve been impressed by some of the things he has said about the challenges that Pakistan faces, about the centrality of fighting terrorism, about the fact that the terrorism fight is Pakistan’s fight and also his very strong words of friendship and alliance with the United States,” Rice said.

Tariq Raza, a 45-year-old teacher in the central city of Multan, called Zardari’s victory a last chance for his party to prove it has the public’s best interests in mind and stand up for Pakistan’s sovereignty.

“The PPP is in power just because of the sympathy vote after the brutal murder of Benazir Bhutto,” Raza said. “Now what we want from Zardari is that the way he ousted Musharraf intelligently, we want him to use the same intelligence to steer the country’s economy and handle the menace of terrorism.

“We want him to save Pakistan from becoming Iraq and Afghanistan. We are a nuclear power, and he should not bow to international powers.”

Musharraf, a former general who seized power in a 1999 military coup, yielded the army post last year after imposing a state of emergency to fend off legal challenges to winning another term, this time as a civilian head of state.

Zardari says he will relinquish some of the powers accumulated by Musharraf but has not made clear how far he will go, sustaining concern that one strongman is replacing another.

Like his late wife, Zardari is generally considered a pro-West liberal. He is not expected to change Musharraf’s commitment to the U.S. war on terrorism, insisting the battle against militants is Pakistan’s own war. But a key test will be how much clout Zardari wields over the powerful military, which has failed to halt the Taliban’s rise in the volatile northwest.

The president has the power to dissolve Parliament and appoint army chiefs, and he leads the joint civilian-military committee that controls Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.