The Musharraf episode in the recent history of the subcontinent has convinced many realists in India that the hope of establishing peace with Pakistan is like accepting a dinner invitation from cannibals and expecting to live to tell the tale, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The profound significance of the events of the past week lies in that the struggle for civilian supremacy has truly begun in Pakistan and its consequences are going to be far-reaching for India-Pakistan relations, says M K Bhadrakumar.
Chastened by the Kargil conflict, Pervez Musharraf will be remembered for gradually lowering the profile of terrorism and seeking a realistically negotiated settlement to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan when Musharraf seized power in a coup in October 1999.
'The deal between two individuals will not materialise unless it is expanded to all the major political parties on a specific national agenda.'
Learning perhaps from the Kargil debacle, Musharraf tried hard to evolve as a statesman in his dealings with India, recalls Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
We got the same Diwali bonuses. We ate together. We carried equipment together on shoots. And when the odd reporter tried to throw her weight around and leave the camera person to carry bags of equipment, cables, the camera and tripod down the stairs and to the shoot location, Prannoy would step in, take the tripod off the shoulders of the colleague silently, lightening the load, recalls Revati Laul.
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
He later went on to clarify his stance, tweeting that his words were taken out of context.
Pakistanis are well aware of Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed's patronage and facilitation of groups linked to armed resistance in Kashmir, says Amir Mir
The report, which was released the report late Thursday night, points out that there was a 'deliberate' attempt by the Pakistan authorities to scuttle the investigation into the killing of the Pakistan People's Party chief.
Musharraf, the 74-year-old retired general who is in self-exile in Dubai, said that Mumbai attack mastermind Saeed "is involved in Kashmir" and he supports their involvement.
The newly-announced cabinet is expected to take oath on Monday at the President's House.
Accusing Pakistan of "double-dealing" the US during the Musharraf regime, a key adviser on terrorism in President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has charged that Islamabad fleeced Washington for billions of dollars in aid while allowing al-Qaeda to regroup in the tribal belt.
Musharraf was serious about sharing power with Bhutto but her demands exposed her real intentions; she actually overestimated her importance and tried to grab everything from Musharraf through negotiations
The Musharraf regime has given tacit approval to attacks by pilot-less United States planes on Al Qaeda targets along Pakistan's restive border area. The strikes have been stepped up as officials fear that the new civilian government will be hostile to such an offensive.Since January, missiles reportedly fired from Central Investigative Agency operated Predator drones, have hit at least three suspected hideouts of Islamic militants.
Although Sharif wanted Musharraf to be arrested and tried in a court of law on charges of treason, Zardari has convinced his new political partner to allow Musharraf an honourable exit by requesting him to step down. The new allies, however. decided that if Musharraf refused to step down, they would seek his impeachment.
The Pakistan government is supporting Islamist groups close to the Taliban in its attempt to suppress tribal insurgency in Balochistan, a leading international think tank has alleged. In its report Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan, the International Crisis Group said that the Musharraf regime relies on divide-and-rule policies. It supports Pashtun Islamist parties like the JUI-F, a key patron of the Afghan Taliban, in a bid to counter secular Baloch forces.
Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf is planning to attack Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry again with the active support of Benazir Bhutto and covert support of the United States. High level meetings are going on in Islamabad in the last two days to chalk out a new strategy against Justice Chaudhry who is becoming a real threat to the Musharraf-Benazir understanding by puncturing the presidential ordinance through which PPP leaders were granted amnesty.
PEMRA will only allow airtime to Indian content if India allows airtime to Pakistani content.
'In Pakistan, people have started believing that democratic forces will win this battle and the army will go back to the barracks, this time forever.'
Disapproving of US' reliance on President Pervez Musharraf in the war against terror, presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who raised a storm by suggesting unilateral action against Al Qaeda in Pakistan, has vowed to go after the terror network there.
Addressing a public rally in Kohat, Durrani said that contrary to her claims for the last seven years that she won't back Musharraf, Bhutto was now convinced that Musharraf's development agenda had nationwide support.
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Saturday said she had not yet reached a power sharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf, but vowed to return to Pakistan from her self-imposed exile "very soon."
The religious parties, Bhutto added, have gained strength within Pakistan and "today control two of our most important provinces that border Afghanistan."
Kulsoom, the wife of Sharif, died on Tuesday in London after a long battle with cancer. She was 68. Her body will be brought back and buried in the Jati Umra Lahore residence of the Sharif family.
But it is open to ideas like setting up of joint consultative mechanism on various issues including tourism and health.
With President Musharraf under pressure from the US, his continuance as leader of Pakistan is under a cloud, says Anil Athale.
'Any conventional conflict could trigger a nuclear war with results that neither India nor Pakistan could survive easily.' >A revealing excerpt from Shuja Nawaz's The Battle For Pakistan: The Bitter US Friendship And A Tough Neighbourhood.
The Pakistan prime minister will be on a visit to India in his capacity as the SAARC chairman.
'We welcome the investigations the Pakistani government is conducting,' said state department spokesman Richard Boucher.
Before leaving for a six-day visit to China, the prime minister said India accorded 'top priority' to ties with China.
Pakistan on Wednesday hanged a man convicted for attempting to assassinate former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, the seventh execution in the country after a moratorium on death penalty was lifted following the Peshawar school carnage.
Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had expressed doubts about a claim by the regime of his former boss Pervez Musharraf that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by the Pakistani Taliban, a United Nations investigator has said.
Experts trace the reasons for the 26/11 attacks to the Pakistan's military interest in three key areas: Kashmir, Afghanistan and nuclear armaments.
Pervez Musharraf's lawyers on Wednesday said the Pakistani Taliban had threatened them with beheading if they continued to represent the former military dictator and called for a change in the venue of his high-profile treason trial.
The prosecutor in the high treason case against former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf has rejected a report on his health prepared by military doctors, saying it is an "attempt to thwart the judicial process".
'I was present at a meeting where he decided to permit the IAF to strike at Pakistan positions in Kargil, with the caveat that they should not cross the LoC.' 'Confident that the Indian Army would succeed, Mr Vajpayee was positioning himself to tell the world after the Kargil conflict was won that India did not violate the 'sanctity' of the LoC,' recalls Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's envoy in Islamabad in that eventful year, 1999.
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