Zardari spends first day in meetings

Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari spent his first day in office on Wednesday receiving a stream of dignitaries who called on him at the presidency.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza invited Zardari to address the parliament to meet a constitutional obligation his predecessor General Pervez Musharraf ignored for fear of rowdy behaviour by opponents.

Officials said the new president was likely to make the address to the parliament some time next week.

An official report said during the meeting President Zardari stressed the need for solid steps to shore up the economy and the two also discussed the fight against terrorism and extremism.

In addition to others the president received chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, members of the federal cabinet and the chiefs of the army, navy and air force.

The president is yet to decide whether to retain his position as co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). He has pledged that the president would be subservient to the parliament.

"The weeks ahead will no doubt reveal the president's thinking on how to reconfigure the balance of power between the president and the prime minister," a leading national daily Dawn observed in an editorial.

Nine resignations

According to media reports Zardari has asked Gilani to accept the resignations of nine ministers of former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party, which quit the coalition last month over non-reinstatement of the deposed judges.

A new expanded cabinet is likely to take oath later in the current moth and consultations are underway about changes in the line-up. Karachi-based Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) looks set to gain seats in the federal cabinet. Before his swearing-in Zardari took two symbolic steps.

He reversed a Sindh government decision for a day's holiday in celebration of the PPP's presidential poll victory and stopped government departments from placing screaming advertisements in newspapers to congratulate him.

The PPP-led government faces enormous challenges in the face of worst fiscal and current account deficits, acute power shortage, unprecedented food price hikes and growing threats of terrorism and militancy.