Asif Ali Zardari was overwhelmingly elected as the 14th President of Pakistan on Saturday, becoming the only civilian President of the coup-prone country for a second time.
Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, on Monday, became the first-ever woman chief minister of a province in Pakistan when she was elected to head the Punjab province, describing it as an 'honour' for every woman in the country.
Sources in the PML-N told the Press Trust of India in Lahore that Nawaz Sharif decided to withdraw himself from the race for the prime minister's office for his daughter and political heir, Maryam Nawaz, 50.
In a surprise development, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Tuesday nominated its president Shehbaz Sharif as the prime ministerial candidate of Pakistan instead of the party supremo and three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif.
PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif is still in the race for the prime ministerial slot despite his party not securing a simple majority in the Feb 8 general elections in Pakistan, some PML-N leaders said on Monday.
Wasim Qadir, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidate who defeated PML-N's stalwart Sheikh Rohail Asghar from Lahore's National Assembly-121 constituency, joined the PML-N after a meeting with Maryam Nawaz, daughter of the party supremo Nawaz Sharif, at her residence.
The three main political parties in Pakistan on Sunday intensified their efforts for the formation of a coalition government after it became clear that the coup-prone country faced a hung Parliament after general elections marred by allegations of rigging.
A large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf candidates had contested as independents after the ECP had snatched the former prime minister Imran Khan-led party of its iconic cricket bat symbol.
Islamabad also summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires here and issued a strongly worded condemnation of Iran's "violation of its airspace", the Foreign Office said.
The 73-year-old leader castigated the judges for legitimising military dictators.
'During my tenure as PM, two Indian prime ministers visited Pakistan. Modi sahab and Vajpayee sahab had come to Lahore'
Scores of churches and homes belonging to Christians in Jaranwala tehsil of Faisalabad district, some 130 km from the provincial capital, were burnt down on Wednesday by a mob enraged over reports that two Christians had desecrated the Quran.
Khan was convicted in the Toshakhana case which was filed last year on the complaint of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which had earlier disqualified him in the same case.
Succumbing to the demands of a radical Islamist party, the Pakistan government has agreed to try blasphemy suspects under terrorism charges in addition to the other sections of the country's penal code.
Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, an United Nations-designated terrorist who trained the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) attackers for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and acted as the outfit's chief on at least two occasions, died in a prison in Pakistan's Punjab province while serving a sentence for terror financing, his aide said on Wednesday.
Citing sources within the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), the Geo News reported that the names of the PTI leaders and its party chief have been added for their involvement in the May 9 violence and desecration of martyrs' monuments.
The interim government in Pakistan's Punjab province on Wednesday claimed that some '30 to 40' terrorists are hiding at the Lahore residence of former prime minister Imran Khan, giving him an ultimatum of 24 hours to hand them over or face stern action.
'My message to the people of Pakistan; I will fight for Haqeeqi Azaadi till the last drop of my blood because for me death is preferable than to be enslaved by these assortments of crooks'
Khan took strong exception to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) allegations against him and said the spokesperson of the army's military wing was not even born when he represented Pakistan in the world.
Pakistan's Punjab police have booked former prime minister Imran Khan and 1,500 of his party workers for attacking and setting on fire a top army officer's house in Lahore.
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