by Rana Jawad
ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (AFP) - Pakistan`s former finance minister Shaukat Aziz, a key ally of President Pervez Musharraf, was sworn in as prime minister Saturday and won a vote of confidence that was boycotted by the opposition.
The opposition had also boycotted the parliamentary vote that elected Musharraf`s hand-picked prime minister Friday in protest at the Speaker`s refusal to allow their candidate, who is in jail, to attend the session.
Saturday`s vote of confidence, boycotted by 150 opposition lawmakers, was a constitutional formality required to complete the installation of Aziz, a softspoken professional with no political background, as prime minister.
Aziz was chosen for the job after Zafarullah Jamali resigned in June in a transfer of power planned by Musharraf. He is expected to form his cabinet early next week.
Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, and Aziz said after the swearing-in ceremony that democracy was being strengthened in Pakistan.
"Democracy is maturing in Pakistan," Musharraf said.
But the opposition slammed the election as a sham.
"This is a farce, a complete farce, we don`t call it election," opposition MP Tehmina Daultana told AFP.
Speaking in the national assembly after the vote of confidence, Aziz promised "competent, efficient and good governance" and called for national consensus on vital issues.
He said internal security was the biggest challenge. Aziz narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in July and Musharraf has been targeted at least three times.
The new prime minister also said Pakistan would continue its efforts for peace in Kashmir, the Himalayan state divided between Pakistan and India and cause of two wars between them.
Friday`s vote united the divided opposition, with the religious Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Alliance joining hands with the secular Alliance for Restoration of Democracy to protest that their candidate for the prime minister`s job, Javed Hashmi, could not attend the election.
Hashmi is serving a 23-year sentence after a court convicted him in April of distributing a letter he had said was from army officers criticising Musharraf.
Analysts said Musharraf had elevated Aziz, a former banking executive, to the top job to ensure his policies were adequately implemented and secure his grip on power.
Musharraf would feel more comfortable with a non-political head of government, they said.
"Aziz will play a second fiddle role to Musharraf," political analyst Afzal Niazi told AFP.
"There will be a better relation between the president and the prime minister because Musharraf knows Aziz better than he knew Jamali," Niazi said.
"Musharraf will continue to be the boss and preside over the governmental process," analyst Hasan Askari told AFP.
"The attempt appears to divorce governance and economic development from political affairs," he said.
"Key strategic policy issues will be taken care of by the president as was the case in the past, governance and economic development by Aziz and politics will be pushed aside to be managed by the ruling Muslim League party," he said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to strengthen friendship and cooperation with Pakistan in a letter Saturday to Aziz, the Indian foreign ministry said in New Delhi.