Gilani has said he will seek a UN investigation into Benazir Bhutto's assassination [AFP]

Gilani took the oath of office from Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, on Tuesday.
 
Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was released late on Monday, had been placed under house arrest along with about 60 other judges by Musharraf under emergency law imposed before February's general election.

Gilani ordered the release of all judges originally arrested under Musharraf's ordinance.
 
He also said he will ask parliament to pass a resolution seeking a UN inquiry into the assassination in December of Benazir Bhutto, who led the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
 
Gilani was sworn in as prime minister hours after two senior US diplomats arrived in Pakistan for security talks.
 
John Negroponte, the US deputy secretary of state, and Richard Boucher, US assistant secretary of state, will meet both Musharraf and Gilani.
 
Democracy 'restored'

Gilani told parliament on Monday that democracy had been restored to Pakistan.
 
"I will demand the immediate release of all the arrested judges," Gilani said.
 
Shortly after, police started removing the barricades outside Chaudhry's home.

Chaudhry appeared in public for the first time since November on the balcony of his house, flanked by his wife and children.
 
He waved to supporters, many of whom were shouting slogans calling for the resignation of Musharraf.
 
"I am thankful to the entire nation which has struggled for the last five months for the rule of law," Chaudhry said.

State media quoted a senior Islamabad administrator as saying that "all deposed judges are free to move".

Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, one of the judges Gilani released on Monday, told Al Jazeera that the prime minister's decision was "a breath of fresh air".

He said: "The resolve Gilani showed in parliament is certainly a step in the right direction."

Reinstatement likely

Chaudhry has been under house arrest since he was sacked in November last year [AFP]

If the new government honours that pledge, the judges could still declare Musharraf's re-election illegal and remove him from the presidency.

Chaudhry's suspension in November last year had sparked the country's biggest political crisis since Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

Musharraf said Chaudhry was sacked over allegations of impropriety and misconduct.

Chaudhry grateful
 
After Monday's developments, one of Chaudhry's aides said that he was grateful to Gilani.

"I have just met the chief justice," Athar Minallah told the AFP news agency. "He has thanked the prime minister and the new assembly and he has also said that he is praying for the democratic institutions."
 
Gilani on Monday won 264 votes in the 342-seat lower house of parliament, while Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a senior leader of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) party, secured 42 votes in the poll on Monday evening.

Fahmida Mirza, the parliament speaker, said: "Yousuf Raza Gilani commands the majority of the members. Please come forward and take the seat of leader of the house."
 
Gilani was jailed in 2001 by the Musharraf government for making illegal appointments but was freed in 2006.
 
He says the charge was politically motivated.

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