Pakistan Chooses Next President

    Mamnoon Hussain, a little-known textiles magnate from Karachi and a loyalist of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, won the presidential vote in the national and provincial legislatures. He will take over from President Asif Ali Zardari, a contentious figure who is due to step down on Sept. 8.

Born in India in 1940, Mr. Hussain served briefly as the governor of Sindh Province in 1999, when Gen. Pervez Musharraf toppled Mr. Sharif’s previous government in a bloodless coup. Mr. Hussain remained a steadfast ally of Mr. Sharif in those days, defying military pressure and intimidation.

But his ventures into electoral politics were less successful; he failed to win a parliamentary seat in 2002 and since then had concentrated largely on his textile business.

Political analysts say the presidency may be his reward for his unflinching loyalty to the Sharif family. Before his victory on Tuesday, he promised to use the office to restore peace in Karachi, his native city, which is splintered by ethnic political violence.

The election was another important democratic step in a country that has seen four military coups since the 1950s, the most recent in 1999. It confirmed Mr. Sharif, whose party emerged victorious from May’s general election, as the most popular civilian leader.

But away from the democratic process Taliban insurgents, not power-hungry generals, now present the most pressing challenge to state authority in Pakistan.

Political wrangling over Pakistan’s relationship with America formed part of the general criticism of Mr. Zardari, the departing president, who otherwise spent much of his five-year term in rolling battles with judicial and military leaders, all the while struggling to shake off long standing corruption accusations.

පාකිස්තානයේ නව ජනපති හුසේන්….

පාකිස්තානයේ නව ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස මන්නූන් හුසේන් අද (30) තේරී පත්වුණා. දිගු කලක් පාකිස්තාන මුස්ලිම් ලීගය නියෝජනය කළ නව ජනාධිපති හුසේන් මීට පෙර එරට ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයෙකු වශයෙන් ද කටයුතු කර තිබෙනවා.