ISLAMABAD - PAKISTAN president-elect Asif Ali Zardari faced immediate pressure Sunday to tackle an upsurge in militant violence, as the toll from a suicide blast in the country's troubled northwest reached 33.

Mr Zardari, who won a two-thirds majority in a secret ballot among lawmakers on Saturday, will be sworn in as leader of the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic state and frontline US 'war on terror' ally on Tuesday.

Pakistani's Zardari must restore parliamentary powers ISLAMABAD - PAKISTAN president-elect Asif Ali Zardari must reverse controversial changes made to the constitution under military rule and restore the powers of parliament, the country's opposition said on Sunday. The call from the party of two-time former premier Nawaz Sharif came after Mr Zardari won more than two-thirds of the ballots cast by lawmakers in Saturday's presidential election. He was expected to be sworn in on Monday. ... more

'The programme for oath-taking has been finalised. It will be held on Tuesday, said Mr Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

The new president - the widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto - will take charge of a country that has been riven by Islamic militancy, with nearly 1,200 people killed in bombings and suicide attacks in the past year.

The militant threat was underscored in the northwestern city of Peshawar during voting on Saturday, when a suicide car-bomber rammed a police checkpost killing 33 people and wounding more than 80.

The unrest is seen as a backlash by militants angry at the support given to the United States by former president Pervez Musharraf, whose August 18 resignation triggered Saturday's election.

'I will work to defeat the domestic Taliban insurgency and to ensure that Pakistani territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on our neighbours or on Nato forces in Afghanistan,' Mr Zardari said in an editorial before his win.

Mr Zardari is also facing pressure from the opposition to reverse controversial changes to the constitution made by Mr Musharraf, which give him the right to dismiss parliament, as well as make key military and judicial appointments.

'Zardari's first test is that as president he facilitates the transfer of Musharraf's powers to parliament,' said Mr Ahsan Iqbal, a former minister and senior figure in the party led by two-time former premier Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Sharif's allies have already demanded that Zardari resign as co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the country's largest, in the wake of his victory.

'We want the president to be apolitical - that has been the tradition and we hope this tradition is kept,' Mr Iqbal said.

Pakistan's economy is also in trouble with rampant inflation and a plunging stock market that has lost around 40 per cent of its value since January, in a country already reliant on foreign aid.

Mr Zardari, 53, defeated retired chief justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, who was backed by Mr Sharif, and Mr Mushahid Hussain, a close aide of Mr Musharraf, in Saturday's election.

He will become the 14th president in Pakistan's short but turbulent history, and was likely to be sworn in on Monday, a top party official said on Monday.

'The decision will be taken shortly and the swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place probably on Monday,' PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar told AFP.

'There is no set programme for Sunday. Party leaders and officials are expected to meet Asif Ali Zardari and greet him on his election win,' he added.

Leaders across the world congratulated Mr Zardari on his victory.

In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said US President George W. Bush 'looks forward to working with him ... and the government of Pakistan on issues important to both countries'.

Those include 'counterterrorism and making sure Pakistan has a stable and secure economy', he added.

Mr Zardari, once dubbed 'Mr Ten Per cent,' spent a total of 11 years in jail on charges ranging from corruption to murder.

An amnesty signed by Mr Musharraf cleared him of all corruption charges last year and allowed him and Bhutto to return to Pakistan and end years in exile. -- AFP

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