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

Islamabad: Asif Ali Zardari's son and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairman, 19-year-old Bilawal Bhutto Zardari watched the proceedings from the VVIP gallery of the assembly. He smiled and shook hands with many who approached him.

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