Smaller parties in Pakistan have launched a bid to patch up differences between President Asif Ali Zardari and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif before matters reach a point of no return.
Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, accused by the Pakistan government of being involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, is set to dispatch a delegation to meet Pakistan People's Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to condole the death of the former premier, a news report has said. "The delegation, comprising prominent tribal elders and religious scholars from South Waziristan, will deliver a written condolence letter from Mehsud to Asif Zardari," it said.
Pakistan People's Party parliamentarians on Wednesday backed party chief Asif Ali Zardari for the post of President but he said a decision would be made only after consulting all members of the ruling coalition.
India and Pakistan have a real opportunity to take relations forward after the exit of President Pervez Musharraf, feels Adrian Levy, co-author of Deception: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy.
The people of Pakistan welcomed Obama's emphasis on seeking "a new way forward" with the Muslim world "based on mutual interest and mutual respect", Zardari said in a brief statement.
Bhutto's husband Asif Zardari and her three children, who arrived in Islamabad late on Thursday night, had a brief chance to see the body before the plane left for Sukkur near Lakarna.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sent a new year greeting card featuring a dove to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. "With all good wishes for the new year," the card, which the Pakistan president's office received a few days ago, said. The card, signed by Dr Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur, could be described as a message for better relations between the two countries following the souring of ties in the wake of the terrorist attack on Mumbai, sources said.
Ansar Burney, the leading Pakistani Human Rights activist on Wednesday said that he would file a fresh mercy petition to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on behalf of Sarabjit Singh on Thursday.
'We must make viable peace. This (Kashmir) is a solvable problem that must not take further lives,' Zardari said in a 'special vision statement' read out at a conference organised by Tehelka magazine in London on Friday. Pending a final settlement, 'we agree with the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh supporting an autonomous Kashmir running much of its own affairs', Zardari said.
All is not well between Pakistan's top two leaders with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani taking exception to "increasing interference" by President Asif Ali Zardari in the day-to-day running of the government, a media report said today.
With an increasingly prevalent view in India that the Mumbai attacks had the sanction and endorsement of the Pakistani Army and the shadowy Inter Services Intelligence, it is General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani -- the man at the helm of things -- who is under a scanner.
Bhutto, who was scheduled to go on a four-day trip to Dubai where her husband Asif Ali Zardari, her daughter and her mother currently live, was stopped at the international airport in Islamabad.
They have also received one demerit point each for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct.
Vowing to defend Pakistan till the last drop of his blood, President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday said there would be no compromise on the country's sovereignty and integrity amidst escalating tension with India. "Pakistan is a great nation and we will defend the country till the last drop of our blood," Zardari said at the annual day function of his alma mater, Petaro Cadet College, in Sindh province.
With Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif sharpening his rhetoric against Pervez Musharraf, the ruling Pakistan People's Party said that it was waiting for an opportune moment to offer an exit to the embattled President."Pakistan People's Party will be the one that sends President Pervez Musharraf home," its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Sunday night. Zardari's comments came in the wake of a demand by his Sharif for Musharraf to be made accountable for actions.
An overwhelming majority of Pakistanis believe their country is moving in the wrong direction and 59 per cent would rather have Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif as president instead of Asif Ali Zardari, a survey has said. Eighty-eight per cent of the respondents in the poll conducted by United States-based International Republican Institute said Pakistan is moving in the wrong direction, while 73 per cent said the economic situation had worsened in the past year.
A top Pakistani diplomat in the United States on Saturday said that Islamabad was aware that the peace deal with Taliban in the country's troubled Swat valley would not work but went ahead with it as a tactical move. Pakistan's ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, in a television interview, said even President Asif Ali Zardari knew about its result from the very beginning of the deal. He also said that such strategy could be repeated in the future.
Despite a last-minute US mediation, the leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition have failed to reach a deal on restoring deposed judges, increasing the probability that ministers belonging to former premier Nawaz Sharif's party might quit the Cabinet on Monday.
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