Hafiz Saeed-backed Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) had fielded 265 candidates -- including 13 women -- countrywide.
Sharif also expressed optimism that India-Pakistan ties would improve in the days ahead.
The murder of two Sikhs by the Taliban in the restless tribal belt highlights the plight of the minorities there. Rajeev Sharma reports.
While we have to hiss loudly and do the lunging bit to keep our foes on their toes, that's only a tactical matter. What is the strategic goal? What is the end game? In my opinion, there is only one possible end game: the unwinding of Pakistan into several pieces: Balochistan, Sind, Balawaristan (Gilgit, Baltistan, the rest of PoK), the Pashtun area Khyber Pakhtunwa which will merge with Afghanistan, and the rump Punjab, says Rajeev Srinivasan.
Pakistan has denied Iranian claims that the government is aware of the fact that Abdolmalek Rigi -- the alleged mastermind of the terror attack in Pishin on Sunday --- is hiding in Balochistan. Rigi is the chief of the underground Sunni outfit group Jundallah which claimed responsibility for the attack in Iran's Sunni-majority Sistan-Baluchistan province. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad too accused Pakistan of having links to the bombers who carried out the attack.
India has proposed February 18 and 25 to Pakistan as the dates for foreign secretary-level talks as part of a "practical and pragmatic" approach to seek redressal of its core concern of cross-border terrorism but warns that there will be a huge setback if a 26/11-type terror attack is repeated.
Rejecting Pakistan's allegations that India was fomenting trouble in Balochistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday termed the charges as 'false accusations,' saying the country is not in the business of exporting terror.
Protesting against enforced disappearances in Balochistan, Abdul Qadeer Baloch, 72, has led a small group that has covered more than 2,000 kilometres on foot, breaking the 84-year-old record set by Mahatma Gandhi during his Dandi march. Hamid Mir reports from Islamabad.
The Central Information Commission has allowed the inspection of files pertaining to the controversial Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement of India and Pakistan last year, responding to a Right To Information application.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said unless the "core issues" of Kashmir and sharing of river waters are resolved, ties between India and Pakistan cannot improve.
The very severe cyclonic storm Nilofar has weakened into a severe cyclonic storm ahead of making landfall at the northern Gujarat coast and adjoining Pakistani coast around Naliya by Thursday night.
Decision will be taken in second democratic transition of power in the nation's 70-year chequered history.
The unrest in Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province threatens to dent the military operation against the Taliban militants and its economy, a news report has said.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over his handling of foreign policy, Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said India has completely reversed its position on terrorism emanating from Pakistan, and warned that the mention of Balochistan in the joint statement would 'trouble' the country. Initiating a debate on the 'Issues arising out of Prime Minister's recent visits to foreign countries', BJP leader Yashwant Sinha also targeted the government.
Whatever the prime minister might say in defence of his grand vision to seek peace with Pakistan, he cannot justify the oblique insinuation in the Joint Statement that India has a hand in what Pakistan calls 'threats in Balochistan'. This reference draws a parallel with Pakistan's prolonged proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir, under the shadow of its nuclear umbrella, and cannot be justified even though "India has nothing to hide".
Pakistan intelligence officials say Islamabad is apprehensive about the expanding US offensive, as it feels that it could create further problems in already troubled Balochistan.
Continuing their tough stance against activists and lawyers, Pakistani authorities on Friday blocked all major highways leading to Islamabad to prevent a protest march demanding reinstatement of sacked judges, from reaching the capital. Police and paramilitary forces today blocked another group of activists marching from Balochistan's capital Quetta to Sukkur in Sindh and arrested the Supreme Court Bar Association President Ali Ahmed Kurd along with some others.
The decision comes weeks after killing of two Chinese nationals who entered the country on business visa.
India on Tuesday reacted strongly to Pakistan's charge that it was fomenting trouble there, saying the developments in that country are of "their own making" and no effective government was functioning there.
India on Tuesday rubbished Pakistan's allegations that it was fomenting trouble in the neighbouring country, saying it has nothing to do with their internal developments which are of 'their own making.'
He said time has come for freedom of PoK and it would be part of India soon.
A Pakistani court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking the registration of a police case against former president Pervez Musharraf and his close aides for the "murder" of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Facing intense pressure from the United States to act against militants thriving in its restive tribal region, Pakistani has blamed India and Afghanistan for stirring trouble in its northwestern areas and Balochistan province.Ruling Pakistan People's Party leader Rehman Malik, who functions as the interior minister and is a confidant of party chief Asif Ali Zardari, appealed to Pakistan's western allies, including the US, to stop India and Afghanistan's alleged activities.
What Dr Singh has achieved as a statesman is that he has set out to define a new paradigm in which India-Pakistan relations will be discussed. For the first time in the history of the two nations he has laid the grounds for India and Pakistan to work together to solve the common problems, including that of terrorism.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who addressed party Members of Parliament on Thursday, backed Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the joint statement signed between Pakistani PM Yusuf Raza Gilani and him in Sharm-el-Sheikh.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani had not handed over any dossier to him on Balochistan during their meeting in Egypt earlier this month. Intervening in a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the joint statement issued with Pakistan, Dr Singh said, "I categorically say no such dossier was given to me".Dr Singh met Gilani in Sharm-el Sheikh on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit.
India and Pakistan are embroiled in a new diplomatic war.
Pakistan on Thursday did not confirm or deny reports that it handed over a dossier to New Delhi on the alleged Indian involvement in the unrest in Balochistan, saying the issue involved intelligence matters which cannot be discussed in public. Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the matter had been adequately covered by the joint statement issued after the meeting between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.
There is also no information on what has happened to the appeal by Jadhav's mother.
The team of hunters was unhurt in the attack that happened in Guchak area of Panjgur, however, two vehicles of the convoy were damaged in the firing, police said.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that hectic diplomatic efforts were made to inform the world leaders about Pakistan's position on the NSG entry.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for failing to mention the Sharm-e-Sheikh Indo-Pak joint statement in his Independence Day address."Balochistan was mentioned in the joint statement in a manner as if India is also using terrorism to create problems for Pakistan. The country hoped the prime minister would clarify on it in his address," he said.
Dr Wahid Baloch is President of the Baloch Society of North America spoke on the recent Indo-Pak joint statement in Egypt and what it means for the Baloch fight for freedom.
American lawmakers and experts called for cutting off aid to the country and listing it as a state sponsoring terrorism.
United States President Barack Obama is considering expanding the American covert war in Pakistan far beyond the tribal areas to strike at a different centre of Taliban power in Balochistan, from where the top leaders of the outfit are orchestrating attacks into southern Afghanistan.
India has issued demarche against Pak over Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence.
Pakistan's memorial will be in response to pleadings filed by India in the Hague-based ICJ on April 17.
An unidentified caller on Saturday claimed that John Solecki, an American heading the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan's Balochistan province who was kidnapped earlier this month, had been killed.
'All the anti-India groups like LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul Mujahideen have been activated with terrorist camps and launching pads in place.'
Iranian authorities partially closed the border with Pakistan at Taftan in Balochistan province last week after a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Zahedan on May 28. The complete closure of the border has been ordered on Saturday.
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