Relaxing in his teak-floored study on a hilltop overlooking Pakistan’s capital, Yousuf Raza Gilani settles back into his sofa and grins the wide grin of a politician on the rise.

Stacked around him are countless books documenting the tortuous history of Pakistani politics — and Mr Gilani knows that he has just earned a place in them.

When he became Prime Minister in March last year many wrote him off as a political cipher, destined to be overshadowed by Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader who picked him and is now the President.

In the past few days, however, Mr Gilani has emerged as a surprise challenger to Mr Zardari’s authority after the President was forced to bow to opposition demands to reinstate an independent-minded chief justice on Monday.

Mr Gilani is credited with brokering a truce with Nawaz Sharif, the opposition leader who broke out of house arrest on Sunday to lead a nationwide protest march that threatened to plunge the country into anarchy. The Prime Minister now also appears determined to strip the presidency of the extra powers that it accumulated under Pervez Musharraf, who took power in a coup in 1999, and to strengthen the Parliament and premiership instead.

“We have to return to parliamentary democracy on the lines of Westminster,” he told The Times in his first interview since Mr Zardari’s stand-off with Mr Sharif ended. “We are committed to end this imbalance in the country’s power structure.”

Mr Gilani is thought widely to have the backing of General Ashfaq Kayani, the powerful army chief who, along with Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, also helped to broker the truce with Mr Sharif.

That is a rare piece of good news for Pakistan, analysts say, as the country struggles to rebuild its fragile democracy after nine years of military rule while also fighting al-Qaeda and Taleban militants on its border with Afghanistan.

It is disastrous, however, for Mr Zardari, the former playboy who took over the PPP after the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto, in December 2007, and succeeded Mr Musharraf as President in August. Some official sources even predict that Mr Zardari, 53, could attempt to dismiss Mr Gilani, prompting another spasm of political turmoil.

Mr Gilani, 56, denied that there was any conflict with Mr Zardari, despite his apparent desire to reduce the presidency to a largely ceremonial role. “How could we have agreed on the restoration of the chief justice if we have differences?” he asked.

Yet he is openly reaching out to Mr Sharif, the former Prime Minister and head of the rival Pakistan Muslim League (N) party, who walked out of a coalition Government last year. “I am sure we can work with Nawaz Sharif in strengthening the democratic process,” Mr Gilani said. “I have no problem working with Mr Sharif.”

He also said that he wanted to lift immediately federal rule in Punjab province, which was imposed last month after the Supreme Court banned Mr Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, from holding elected office.

After the ruling, Mr Zardari dismissed Shahbaz Sharif as chief minister of Punjab and appointed a PPP ally as governor, infuriating the Sharif brothers, who condemned the move as a power grab.

The Government appealed against the ruling yesterday as one of the concessions that ended last week’s stand-off, but Mr Zardari appears to be stalling on lifting federal rule.

Most worryingly for the President, however, Mr Gilani and Mr Sharif are both talking about implementing a “charter of democracy” that was signed by Ms Bhutto and the PML (N) leader when they were in exile in 2006.

One of its key demands is to return to the Prime Minister the powers that Mr Musharraf gave himself to appoint the army chief, Supreme Court judges and election commission chief, and to send back for review any Bill passed by Parliament. That would make Mr Gilani the country’s undisputed chief executive while being accountable to Parliament, unlike the President.

It would also allow Mr Sharif to inherit those powers if he wins the next election, as is widely expected. “For a new Pakistan we need to implement the charter of democracy signed by two former prime ministers,” Mr Gilani said. “I think this is the way forward.”

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