Islamabad, June 30: Ruling Pakistan Muslim league (Quaid-e-Azam) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussein was today sworn in as Pakistan’s 21st Prime Minister after the sudden resignation by his predecessor Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Saturday.

President Pervez Musharraf administered the oath of office to Hussein and to his 27-member cabinet in Islamabad, calling the change “historic and smooth”.

Hussein has retained 25 ministers who served in Jamali’s cabinet and two new federal ministers have been inducted from the semi-autonomous tribal agencies. In a specially convened session today, the National Assembly resposed confidence in Hussein’s leadership. He secured 189 votes. Hussein said he would continue talks with India to resolve all outstanding issues including the Kashmir dispute.