There were tears and cries of “Long live Bhutto” in the Pakistan parliament as Asif Ali Zardari’s victory was announced in the presence of his two teenage daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa, holding a picture of their dead mother.

Zardari, backed by his Pakistan People’s party (PPP) and a range of small ethnic and religious parties, secured 479 votes of a possible 702 from an electoral college made up of the National Assembly, the Senate, and four provincial assemblies.

“It is the power of the people and the end of dictatorship,” declared Rehman Malik, the interior adviser. “There is no army, it is civilian rule.”

The day was marred by a suicide bomb near a market in Peshawar that killed 18 and injured 50. A vehicle packed with explosives rammed into a security post in an attack claimed by the so-called Taliban of Pakistan.

Zardari takes power amid a war of words with Washington, which appears to have lost patience with Pakistan’s failure to deal with the militants operating from its border areas.

Yesterday Ahmed Mukhtar, his defence minister, announced that the country had stopped allowing supplies to Nato forces fighting in Afghanistan in protest at a series of US attacks on Pakistani territory over the past week.

The first attack on Wednesday apparently involved US commandos landing in a Pakistani village and according to the government resulted in the deaths of 20 people including women and children.

“What they are doing in our border areas is not acceptable,” said Mukhtar. “We’ve stopped supplies to tell Nato forces how serious we are about this.”

Trying to balance dealing with the militants in a country where anti-American sentiment is high, but US aid is desperately needed, will be Zardari’s greatest challenge.

Aside from the security problems, rising food and fuel prices have left Pakistan facing severe power cuts and an economic crisis that bankers warn might soon see it default.

Zardari takes office with a remarkable lack of public trust. He has not been helped by reports that prison caused him severe psychiatric problems. He underwent surgery after a heart attack three years ago and has a chronic back condition from a polo injury.

None of this bodes well for his ability to stabilise Pakistan, a nuclear power regarded by Britain and the US as the world’s most dangerous country. On top of running Pakistan Zardari is now a single parent to three children traumatised by their mother’s assassination. “Their pain is the hardest thing to bear,” he said, admitting that he often had sleepless nights after speaking to them on the phone.

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