The Pakistani judicial commission that probed the abduction and murder of journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad has not held any institution or individual responsible for the crime, according to media reports on Wednesday.
A powerful bomb blast ripped through a crowded market in the restive Khyber tribal region of northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people and injuring over 30 others, officials said. The bomb was planted in a pick-up truck that was parked at a stand for trucks and buses at the market in Jamrud, one of the main towns of Khyber Agency. All the people sitting in the truck were killed instantly when the bomb went off, witnesses and officials said.
Pakistani authorities failed to protect the Mehran naval airbase in Karachi from a terrorist attack last year despite having knowledge since 2009 of al-Qaeda's plans to attack the National Defence University in Islamabad and naval installations.
The civil-military imbalance in Islamabad is a key factor impeding India-Pakistan relations despite a large constituency for peace in both countries, former Indian Minister Shashi Tharoor said in Islamabad on Thursday.
A commission investigating Osama bin Laden's presence in Pakistan and the covert United States raid that killed him has asked the government to give it access to 1,87,000 documents, including diaries and letters, found at the slain Al Qaeda leader's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday expressed hope that the positive trends seen in Indo-Pak relations in 2011 would continue this year to boost the agenda of development and prosperity in the region.
Pakistan's new envoy to the United States, Sherry Rehman, is set to reach Washington on January 9 to occupy the position that was vacated by Husain Haqqani after he was linked to the Memogate scandal.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said it will continue carrying out suicide attacks and targetting Pakistani security forces despite joining other militant groups in a pledge not to kill innocent people or to resort to kidnappings for ransom.
The political scene in Pakistan appears to be heating up, with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaf party indicating that it is open to an alliance with former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. The party's new vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said a decision on forming an alliance with Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League will be taken in due course of time after considering circumstances. His comments come in the wake of political ripples.
Taliban's supreme commander Mullah Mohammad Omar, now in hiding, has put pressure on his groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan to form a new grouping which has pledged to stop targetting Pakistani security forces and instead focus attention on US-led troops in Afghanistan.
India and Pakistan on Sunday exchanged lists of their nuclear installations and facilities under a two-decade-old pact prohibiting attacks on atomic assets, days after senior officials of the two sides held talks here on nuclear and conventional CBMs.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif on Saturday vowed to make Pakistan an economic power and usher in a revolution if his Pakistan Muslim League party is voted to power in the next general election. "My team will bring about a revolution in Pakistan," he said while addressing a rally at Gujranwala in Punjab province that was attended by thousands of his supporters. He contended that the PML-N would come to power again to serve the people and to make the country an economic force.
Without naming any intelligence agency, Sethi said during his show on Geo News channel that the organisation's operatives were "in touch with and threatening several other senior journalists". The journalists did not speak about the threats before "because we did not want to destabilise things", he said. "But the time has come when all of them should come forward and speak about it publicly."
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday dismissed reports that his government was planning to remove the chiefs of the Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency, saying he had personally ensured that both generals were given an extension in service.
At loggerheads with the powerful army, the Pakistan government has issued a show-cause notice to the defence secretary for submitting an affidavit on the memo scandal to the Supreme Court without seeking approval from the defence minister. Lieutenant General (retired) Khalid Naeem Lodhi, considered to be very close to army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was issued the notice last week.
Amidst differences between Pakistan's civilian government and military over a memo alleging an army plot to seize power, President Asif Ali Zardari has called on the people to not allow any change through "force and intimidation". The ballot should be respected as the instrument of change, said Zardari, who has been facing pressure from the military establishment since Pakistan-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz made public the alleged memo that sought United States's help.
Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday dismissed speculation of a military takeover as "misleading", saying they are being used as a "bogey" to divert the focus from "real issues".
The Pakistani Army on Friday rejected a United States-led inquiry report into a cross-border North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November, saying it is "short on facts." "The Pakistan Army does not agree with the findings of the US/NATO inquiry as is being reported in the media. The inquiry report is short on facts," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said.
Pakistan has stopped seeking reimbursements from the United States for its expenses on the war on terror since the May 2 American raid in Abbottabad that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The decision is likely to put additional burden on the country's resource-strained budget.Pakistan used to claim between $100 million and 1$40 million a month as reimbursements from the US.
The retired American general who delivered an alleged memo that sought United States help to stave off a feared coup in Pakistan has said that he believes the document was "not credible".
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