Pakistan Elects New President

(07 Sept. 08 - RV) Pakistan yesterday elected the widower of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, to the country’s presidency yesterday, filling a vacancy created last month when president General Pervez Musharraf resigned the office amid calls for a return to real democratic rule in the country. Zardari comes to the presidency as Pakistan’s government is engaged in a struggle with radical Islamic militants based along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, who have destabilized the border region and wrought terror in Pakistan’s cities. A defense anaylyst at the Pakistan Insitute of International Affairs, Ikram Seghel discussed the election with us…