Top officials including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, all services chiefs including Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, former president Arif Alvi, and diplomats among others attended the ceremony.
PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, elected representatives, and other political leaders were also present on the occasion.
Following the oath-taking, COAS Gen Munir congratulated Bilawal and Zardari on the PPP’s leader election as the president.
CJP Isa also held a conversation with Bilawal in the President’s House lobby after the ceremony concluded.
Sarina Isa, the CJP’s spouse, was also among the participants.
Army Chief Gen Munir also shook hands with PPP chief Bilawal and former PM Nawaz and also met the two leaders briefly.
The swearing-in ceremony of newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari witnessed a rare exchange of pleasantries between the top military and political leadership of the country.
Zardari, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman, took an oath of office a day after he swept the presidential election with 441 electoral votes.
The rival candidate, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) nominee Mahmood Khan Achakzai could only manage to bag 181 electoral votes.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa administered the oath to President Zardari at the ceremony that took place at Awain-e-Sadar in Islamabad.
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