Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari has handed over command of the country's nuclear weapons to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
The Chairman of the National Command Authority, the body that has overall control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, will now be the Prime Minister of the country.
This transfer of the nuclear chain of command was done through re-promulgating an ordinance that was first passed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf and was part of his effort to ensure that the NCA would be under his control after the February 2008 elections.
Beleaguered President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday night transferred control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and said he intended to strip the presidency of more powers by year-end.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar described the move as a "giant leap forward to empower the elected Parliament and the Prime Minister".
Meanwhile, Zardari said in an interview with a TV news channel that the 17th constitutional amendment, which gives the President sweeping powers to dismiss the premier and dissolve parliament, would be done away with during December.
"We wanted to abolish the 17th amendment from day one but we wanted to do it through a unanimous decision, (just) as the 1973 Constitution was also approved unanimously," he said, referring to the constitution framed during the tenure of Pakistan Peoples Party founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
After being elected last year, Zardari reneged on several promises made to its then ally PML-N to divest the presidency of its powers. (With PTI inputs)
