Stepping up its offensive over Kashmir, Pakistan on Tuesday harped on giving the people there the right to 'self-determination' through 'plebiscite' and accused Indian security forces of 'brutality.'
Insisting that the Pakistani Army is supportive of a dialogue with India, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should visit his country to kickstart the peace process.
"Natwar Singh will visit Pakistan at the invitation of the Pakistani government," Kasuri said at Haveli Lakha in Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday.
China on Thursday told Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that it will always put its "all-weather ally" as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy as it praised his commitment to promote the USD 60 billion CPEC initiative.
"The apparent reason for the deal being not extended to Pakistan was the fear of US and Western countries about the safety of Islamabad's nuclear weapons and the chances of them falling into the hands of terrorists," he said.
'Surprised and pained that my name has been dragged into Indian domestic politics,' says Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that the perpetrators of the terror attack on Mumbai are not friends of Islamabad and such terror organisations need to be checked, curtailed and shut. "Those who carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack that killed 166 innocent people are not friends of Pakistan," Qureshi, who is on a visit to United States, said at the Council of Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri told BBC Radio in an interview that Musharraf and the government of Pakistan have displayed courage with regard to the Kashmir issue and relations with India.
Ahead of the foreign secretary-level talks, Pakistan has said it is open to "any sensible suggestion" from India.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while talking to reporters at the airport in his hometown of Multan on Saturday, described the cooperation between the two countries "as the key to ensuring successful prosecution of the culprits" involved in the Mumbai attacks.
"If the separatists come together on one platform, it will be easy for Pakistan to negotiate with India on Kashmir," sources quoted Kasuri.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday said Islamabad is not backtracking on its decision to normalise bilateral trade with New Delhi.
India should remember that Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations will remain special due, not least, to bonds of all Muslims with The Holy Land. They would also be strategic enough, irrespective of whether the ambassador is a military man or a career civilian appointee., notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
PCB acting chairman Zaka Ashraf will push for the country's ODI World Cup matches at neutral venues at the ICC meetings in Durban this week.
Pakistan has welcomed India's decision to withdraw troops from some areas in Jammu and Kashmir.
Boycotting the Champions Trophy will not tackle the issue we have with Pakistan, points out Aakar Patel.
Pakistan's embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday shared some details from what he called a "foreign conspiracy letter" with senior journalists and cabinet members, asserting that the document was authentic.
After news about the demise of Pakistan's former president General Pervez Musharraf was confirmed, the country's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday changed his Twitter profile picture to a photograph of his mother Benazir Bhutto and the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, in whose murder the former military ruler was named.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday said a result-orientated dialogue would help India and Pakistan resolve their bilateral issues.
'It was the hostility of the Yunus regime that made India careful and wary of dealing with them.' 'They gradually backed off and lowered the noise, but the damage was done.' 'Their true colours had been exposed.'
'There are difficulties and we need to find a way to handle them,' Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, adding 'we are ready to engage, we are ready to negotiate any time, anywhere and we are not in a hurry. We will wait till they are ready.'
Pakistan and China strongly feel that India should not become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as it would disturb the balance of power in the region, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Friday.
'Ajit Doval said, "They are threatening us now".'
Pakistan President Arif Alvi has stirred a controversy by proposing a 'one-state solution' to the Palestine problem in a significant departure from established policy, prompting the caretaker government to distance itself from the remarks and calls for his resignation.
Pakistan on Thursday said it is willing to abide by the past agreement with India to resolve disputes like those on Sir Creek and Siachen. "If you look at some of the disputes that we have, we have Sir Creek, we have Siachen. Pakistan has already made it clear that we are willing to go by the agreement that we had in the past," Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said.
But Pakistan might not authenticate India's troop positions in the glacier.
"We reaffirm that Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India," spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar said.
This was in response to Prime Minister Vajpayee's statement that Indo-Pak talks should focus on Pak-occupied Kashmir.
Pakistan and India are close to concluding an agreement on the Sir Creek maritime boundary dispute, which has been hanging fire for decades, with all issues having been resolved, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said. The joint map and joint survey has been done and there are no more issues to be resolved between the countries, he said.
This year saw no improvement in bilateral ties as India accused Pakistan of cross-border infiltration and re-activation of terror-launching pads near the LoC.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday held talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu and is learnt to have discussed the lingering border row in eastern Ladakh.
'Canada doesn't want to de-escalate and neither does India. There is war when one party wants it, but peace is won by both parties.'
Contradicting himself and his own cabinet colleague, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, one of India's most wanted criminals, has not been arrested and is 'still at large'. Qureshi's remarks came barely an hour-and-half after he accepted the detention of Azhar while speaking to Dawn News channel a little after 9 pm on Wednesday.
Amid signs of widening rift, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said she is looking forward to meet United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday to discuss the "strained ties".
Under the programme, Pakistanis and some other nationals are required to register with the INS. This has caused anger in Pakistan.
The description fits former Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, currently lying ill in the military hospital in Coonoor.
Pakistan on Wednesday accused India of not responding positively to its efforts to restart the dialogue process and contended that it would go the "extra mile" if New Delhi takes steps in this regard.
Citing details of the contract from the American Federal Procurement Data System, the BBC report claimed that Pakistan signed two contracts with American companies named "Global Military" and "Northrop Grumman" for the sale of 155mm shells.
