Finally, a prime minister

Pakistan finally has a prime minister. The man who has been selected to do the job is Yousuf Raza Gilani. He was in jail for five years during President Musharraf's regime, on charges of corruption that he says were politically motivated. The jail term is said to have earned him respect in the Pakistan People's Party. He was the Speaker in Parliament during 1993-1996, and earlier a minister during 1988-1990. While he has been nominated by the PPP, he remains a political lightweight and, depending on your viewpoint, suffers or enjoys a huge disadvantage or advantage, in that he is the least unacceptable of all the candidates.

That the decision to nominate Mr Gilani has taken five weeks testifies to the difficulties that lie ahead in running a coalition of former political foes, and with quite a few people disappointed that they did not get the top job. Had she been alive, Benazir Bhutto would have been the prime minister. Her assassination left a void that has taken time to fill. Still, real power within the PPP will remain with Asif Zardari, the husband of the late Ms Bhutto. There is the expectation that he will make a bid to become the prime minister after a few months, when he can get himself elected. Thus, Mr Gilani is seen by some to be doing no more than keeping the seat warm. Mr Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the second largest party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), is surely aware of this. It remains to be seen whether he will accept Mr Zardari as prime minister.

Mr Gilani's government has its task cut out for it. Its immediate priority will be to restore normal democratic norms in the country and take the fight to the terrorists, who seem to be playing havoc. In both tasks he will need the cooperation of the army, which remains a force even though it has withdrawn into the barracks. Even more importantly, the new government will need the cooperation of the Inter-Services Intelligence wing of the army, which many regard as an independent player in the game and which has important links with jihadists. The ISI has in the past played a key role in the conduct of affairs, and things haven't changed so much in Pakistan that it will not continue to do so. Then there are the economic challenges in a slowing global economy, quite apart from the pressure that will be exerted by Mr Sharif for targeting Mr Musharraf "" probably by seeking to re-instate the judges whom the former general had sacked. That the PPP-PML coalition does not have the two-thirds majority in Parliament to be able to roll back this and other decisions is a problem that will come in the way of adventurist ideas. But above and beyond all this, the real challenge facing Mr Gilani is to establish that democratic governments are good for Pakistan, and that politicians can run the country as well or better than generals. The manner in which Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif handled themselves when they were prime minister, with charges being aired of economic mismanagement and large-scale kleptocracy, set the stage for the coup that Mr Musharraf engineered "" readers will recall how widely welcomed the coup was in its initial days. If history is not to repeat itself, and if democracy is not to get a bad name all over again, Mr Gilani will have to perform in rather exacting circumstances.