Pakistan's President Zardari takes oath

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan's newly-elected President Asif Ali Zardari took the oath of office on Sunday, becoming the first-ever civilian to serve a second term in the country's highest yet symbolic office.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath of office to Zardari during a ceremony at the Presidency in the capital Islamabad.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the three armed services chiefs, Zardari's son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was foreign minister in the coalition government until last year and also the chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), and others.

He previously served as president from 2008 to 2013 under his own party's government.

Zardari, 68, co-chairman of the center-left PPP, was elected the country's 14th president for a five-year term on Saturday by lawmakers from the National Assembly as well as four provincial assemblies.

The widower of two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the ruling coalition’s candidate, Zardari convincingly defeated Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a veteran politician from southwestern Balochistan province, and a candidate of the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council, a religiopolitical group that has also been joined by lawmakers from jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.