India Swears In Premier in Shadow of Pakistan Coup

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was sworn in Wednesday as India’s leader for the third time, but a military coup in neighboring Pakistan cast a shadow over his first day back in office.

Vajpayee has said one of the first tasks of his new government would be to restart peace talks that were disrupted by summer fighting in Kashmir, the cause of two of the three wars between Pakistan and India. But Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, who had participated in the peace initiative, was deposed Tuesday in a coup by the Pakistani army.

India’s army was on high alert Wednesday along the border between the two nuclear-armed nations. A security meeting on the Pakistani situation was to convene immediately after Vajpayee, his 26 Cabinet members and 44 additional ministers took the oath of office.

Leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Vajpayee formed the 22-party New Democratic Alliance coalition for the parliamentary elections.

Vajpayee, whose previous terms as prime minister lasted 13 days and 13 months respectively, led the alliance to a clear majority of seats in the 545-member lower house of Parliament.