By Riaz Khan
Peshawar - The death toll in a massive suicide blast in Pakistan's militant-plagued north-west reached 35, officials said on Sunday, as the country prepared for the widower of assassinated ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto to take over as president.
The attack on Saturday demonstrated the severe militant threat facing the Muslim nation and President-elect Asif Ali Zardari, who overwhelmingly won lawmakers' votes the same day as the blast and was expected to be sworn in by Tuesday.
Zardari has vowed to be tough on militancy, a stance that plays well in Washington, where United States officials, worried about rising violence in neighbouring Afghanistan, have pushed Pakistan to clamp down on extremist havens along its borders.
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Nonetheless, Zardari has a fine line to walk. Coming down too hard on insurgent activity risks inflaming Pakistani public opinion and even a tribal uprising.
At the same time, he faces pressure from opponents to reduce the powers of the presidency, something he and his party have vowed to do without specifying the extent.
Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesperson for the chief opposition party, said in a TV interview that Zardari's election was simply a stop along the way to restoring full democracy in Pakistan, and that the transition required giving up some of the president's powers.
The president has the power to dissolve parliament and appoint army chiefs, and chairs the joint civilian-military committee that controls Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
"Parliament is sovereign," Zardari told a group of well-wishers on Saturday. "This president shall be subservient to the parliament."
Dozens were wounded in Saturday's attack, in which an explosives-packed truck blew up at a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.
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