If the parliamentary representation of radical Islamic parties goes up dramatically in 2018, what will this do to Pakistan's army?
A controversial bill that will give Pakistan's intelligence agencies sweeping powers to conduct surveillance and collect electronic data has been passed by both houses of parliament, paving the way for it to be signed into law by the president.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari visited former premier Yusuf Raza Gilani in his hometown of Multan on Friday to allay his concerns about being abandoned by the ruling Pakistan People's Party in the face of several challenges. Zardari visited Gilani a day after the former premier's sons complained in the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament that the federal government was not reining in Federal Investigation Agency officials.
Fifteen people, including a parliamentarian, were injured when a bomb went off at a mosque in the restive Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan on Friday, police said.
In the wake of the death of the Delhi gangrape victim, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday cancelled the visit of an Indian parliamentary delegation led by her to South Africa and her own trip to Namibia to attend a Commonwealth Speakers' conference.
Pakistan's parliament is likely to be dissolved in January next year and a caretaker government installed to oversee elections to be held by April. Speculation has increased in political circles about the government preparing a preliminary roadmap for the next general election, which is scheduled for early next year.
Mulk, 67, is likely to be sworn in on Friday, June 1.
Pakistan's former fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar has cautioned against inviting any foreign teams to Pakistan in the prevailing security situation in the country. Speaking two days after the terrorist attack on the police training centre in Quetta in which 62 police cadets and two armymen were killed and around 170 injured, Akhtar said that the security situation in the country was not good. "Until there is a complete normalcy as far as security situation is concerned we shouldn't take the risk of inviting any foreign team to Pakistan," he said on Geo News channel.
Pakistan's main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has swept the country's last by-polls ahead of next year's general election, winning seven out of eight provincial and national assembly seats that went to the polls in Punjab province.
There is no proposal under consideration to give India the Most Favoured Nation status, Pakistan Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has said.
Pakistan's parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed two key bills aimed at setting up military courts for the speedy trial of "hardcore terrorists" in the aftermath of the Peshawar school massacre by Taliban.
Amid an uproar in Pakistan's political circles over a visit by a United Nation's Working Group on enforced disappearances, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday said the panel is not mandated to conduct any investigation or fact finding work.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry took action against Awan in response to a petition seeking the disqualification of lawmakers with dual nationality.
The Pakistan government's top law officer told the supreme court on Monday it had no role to play in the disqualification of the Prime Minister, which could be decided only by the National Assembly speaker or the election commission.
While hearing the petitions filed against the National Assembly Speaker's ruling in the contempt case against Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said that a "convicted person is representing a population of 180 million people". "A prime minister does not only represent a party, but is also a country's representative," The Express Tribune quoted Justice Chaudhry as saying.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered a probe into the matter.
Pakistan has drawn the attention of the United Nations to what it said was India's "intention" to escalate tension on the Line of Control by launching artillery barrages, which were threatening regional peace and security.
Pakistan's parliament has passed a bill aimed at protecting top government leaders from contempt of court proceedings and countering the Supreme Court's efforts to pressure the premier to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.The Senate or upper house approved the Contempt of Court Bill of 2012 by a majority after a heated debate late on Wednesday night. The bill was passed by the National Assembly or lower house of parliament on Monday.
A bill aimed at shielding top Pakistani leaders from contempt charges and curbing the apex court's efforts to push Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf into reopening graft cases against the President has been approved by the lower house of Parliament.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has congratulated Bhutan's People's Democratic Party leader Tshering Tobgay, who is set to be the country's next premier, and promised "steadfast" and "unflinching" support of India while remaining sensitive to its interest.
Pakistan desires peaceful ties with its neighbours, including India, and will work to strengthen the dialogue process that is already underway to resolve problems like the Kashmir issue, Prime Minister-elect Raja Pervez Ashraf said on Friday.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party on Friday named former IT Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf as it candidate for the post of prime minister hours before a special session of Parliament convened to elect a new premier.
A last minute drama on Thursday marked the selection of Pakistan's new prime minister as the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party choice Makhdoom Shahbuddin was issued a non-bailable warrant by an anti-drug court as he was filing his nomination, virtually ending his prospects.
A special session of Pakistan Parliament will be convened on Friday to elect a new premier following Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's disqualification by the supreme court.
A joint sitting of the National Assembly and Senate adopted a resolution containing 14 recommendations made by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security for ties with the US and overall foreign policy
'It is not difficult for a Pakistan army chief assisted by the deep state to manipulate a situation.' 'Pulwama, Uri and Pathankot, all come to mind,' cautions Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Pakistani authorities have foiled a plot to attack parliament during President Asif Ali Zardari's address to a joint sitting of the two houses and arrested several terrorists and an employee of the foreign ministry, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday. The terrorists had planned to attack Parliament when Zardari was addressing a joint session of the National Assembly and Senate on March 17, Malik said.
France soccer internationals Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema have been discharged of solicitation of an underage prostitute, the Paris Correctional Tribunal said on Thursday.
In a reprieve for Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan parliament's speaker on Thursday ruled out his disqualification in the wake of his conviction for contempt by the supreme court for refusing to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
A Pakistani parliamentary panel on Friday directed police and other authorities in southern Sindh province to register cases on the kidnapping of Hindu women and to create a special cell to investigate such incidents.
The negative list regime for trade with India will be phased out by December after the move is approved by the federal cabinet, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said.
A defiant Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said there is no law under which Pakistan's judiciary can disqualify him, days after his conviction by the supreme court for contempt.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has floored an audience that included her Pakistani counterpart, senior ministers and parliamentarians by delivering a speech in flawless Urdu laced with couplets from Firaq Gorkhpuri, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
Despite being convicted by the Pakistani supreme court on contempt of court charge, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani will stay in his office as the chief executive of the country given the fact that conviction in itself is not enough to send him home, reports Amir Mir.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has welcomed the Supreme Court judgment which disqualified Yusuf Raza Gilani as the prime minister of Pakistan. The PTI was one of the petitioners in the case.
Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, in her reply to the Supreme Court, has contended that she has absolute power to decide the matter regarding the disqualification or qualification of any lawmaker after the passage of the 18th Amendment.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has turned down a request from authorities to close a case against irregularities in the import of a chemical that allegedly involved Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's younger son Ali Musa Gilani.
President Asif Ali Zardari was repeatedly interrupted by boos and slogans from opposition lawmakers as he made his fifth consecutive address to a joint session of Parliament on Saturday to outline his government's policies for the final year of its five-year term.
The JuD will contest the election on the platform of a little known "dormant" political entity, Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek.
