Yousaf Raza Gilani was sworn into office by President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, during a ceremony that took place in Islamabad, the country’s capital.

Gilani is a member of the Pakistan People’s Party and was elected prime minister by Pakistani’s parliament on Monday. The National Assembly voted 264 to 42 to assign the post to Gilani.

In a possible attempt to show their hostility towards President Pervez Musharraf, Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, both leaders of Bhutto’s party, refused to attend the ceremony, which was broadcast live on television.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also declined the invitation to participate to the ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony, Musharraf and Gilani shook hands, but Gilani did not hesitate to challenge Musharraf, by ordering the release of the judges arrested last November, when the president had declared a state of emergency. Gilani announced his intention to release the judges soon after being elected on Monday.

This action is part of the new government’s plan to reduce Musharraf’s powers and reconsider the president’s counterterrorism policy. Many Pakistanis are not pleased by the president’s support of the U.S.-led campaign against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The new Pakistani Prime Minister was arrested in 2001, charged with illegal government appointments, and spent five years in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where Zardari was also detained for corruption. He was released in 2006, after a higher court annulled his conviction.

Gilani, a longtime Bhutto loyalist, is greatly appreciated inside the Pakistan People’s Party, for resisting pressure from President Musharraf to leave the party and never making any kind of compromise.