London, Sep 8 : Asif Ali Zardari, the newly elected Pakistan President, faces the challenge of laying a new course for the country which has witnessed rise in insurgency and the growing economic crisis.

Zardari’s election was, however, overshadowed by a car bomb attack on Saturday outside Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province, in which as many as 35 people were killed.

Islamabad, Sep 8: Pakistan’s newly elected Presidents Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif will meet today in Islamabad after 32 days to exchange greetings.

Sharif will go to Islamabad to congratulate President elect Asif Ali Zardari which would be the first meeting between two leaders since August 7, when they had signed an agreement for restoring judges, The News reported.

Zardari has already invited Sharif to attend his oath-taking ceremony.

Islamabad, Sep 8: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will attend the oath-taking ceremony of Pakistan’s president-elect Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday.

“The Pakistani president invited him to take part in the oath-taking ceremony to be held in Islamabad soon”, and Karzai has accepted the invitation, Dawn reported.

According to a statement issued by Karzai’s office, the Afghan President telephoned Zardari to congratulate him on winning the September 6 presidential election.

Islamabad - Ijaz Afridi, a school teacher, is indifferent to the election of Asif Ali Zardari as Pakistan's new president. He is too busy with receiving condolences from visitors for his cousin, who was butchered by a suicide bomber together with 35 other people on Saturday, as lawmakers were voting for the new head of the state.

A single attacker in his twenties blew up his explosive-laden car after failing to cross a security checkpoint in a busy market just outside Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on Saturday.

New Delhi - India had the political will to work with the newly-elected Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a message to the Pakistani leader on Sunday.

"In your new office, you will find a friend in India," Singh said in his message, adding that the government and people of India wished to build close ties of friendship and partnership between the two countries.

The nuclear-capable South Asian neighbours have had troubled relations since independence from British rule in 1947 and have fought three wars. They are currently engaged in a dialogue to resolve differences including that over the disputed Kashmir region.

Islamabad- Pakistan's president-elect Asif Ali Zardari is to be sworn in early next week amid hopes that his rise could bring stability to the crisis-ridden nation, a senior official said Sunday.

"The oath-taking ceremony will take place on Tuesday," Information Minister Sherry Rehman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Zardari secured 481 of the 702 electoral votes in Saturday's presidential elections, placing him far ahead of his rivals - former Supreme Court chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui and veteran politician Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who got 153 and 44 votes, respectively.