Amid main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's demand that Pervez Musharraf be tried for treason, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said the fate of the former military ruler will be decided by the people and Parliament and ruled out using his powers on "frivolous issues of the past".
Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan has turned against embattled President Pervez Musharraf, who pardoned him for proliferation activities four years ago, blaming him for the various problems confronting the country that had 'gone to the dogs'. Khan, confined to his home in Islamabad for the past four years by Musharraf after he admitted to proliferating nuclear secrets, claimed he had never done anything illegal.
Leaders of the All Parties Democratic Movement termed the amendment 'a clear violation of the Constitution.'
Tariq Fatemi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States, said President Pervez Musharraf's failure to rout terrorism in Pakistan was largely because he did not have popular support, as the war on terror was seen by the people as 'America's war.'
Naveed Musharraf, the president's brother, and Irum Bilal Musharraf, his daughter-in-law, have reportedly given donations to Obama instead of Bush's Republican Party's presumptive candidate Senator John McCain.
Pakistanis are objecting to Stanford University's invitation to former president Pervez Musharraf to lecture at the varsity later this week.
The meeting of the PPP's central executive committee came a day after the presidency and party snapped all contacts between them in the wake of Zardari's comments in an interview with PTI describing Musharraf as a relic of the past who is standing between the people of Pakistan and democracy. The party's federal ministers and the chief ministers of the PPP-led governments in Balochistan and Sindh provinces also attended the meeting held at Zardari House in Islamabad.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has snapped informal talks with the ruling Pakistan People's Party, following its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari's stinging comments describing him as a 'relic of the past and an unelected and non-democratic President', Pakistani TV news channels reported on Friday. During his interview with PTI, Zardari described Musharraf as a relic of the past, who was standing between the people of Pakistan and democracy.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has sent a letter to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to protest against the brutal attacks on journalists by security personnel during the arrival of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad.
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf today said surgical strikes cannot be carried out against Pakistan and if such an eventuality arises the country is prepared to respond with "full force."
Demanding that Pervez Musharraf be tried for treason, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has said the government should play its role in the light of the Supreme Court's verdict on the former President's actions to end the military's interference in Pakistan's political set-up.
President Pervez Musharraf has welcomed resumption of the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, hoping it would lead to "some fruitful and substantial" conclusion. Musharraf, who has supervised several rounds of talks with India, was given a presentation by the foreign ministry during a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Qureshi, Foreign Secretary Bashir and other senior officials, on the eve of the two-day talks to be held.
Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has "conceded to his exile in London" and made up his mind not to return to Pakistan in the wake of the Supreme Court's verdict that the emergency imposed by him in 2007 was unconstitutional, according to one of his close aides.
The Pakistan People's Party, heading the coalition, decided to keep the ministerial portfolios, except for Finance, vacant hoping to bring around Nawaz Sharif's party which pulled out its ministers after the deadline for reinstating the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf expired on Monday.
The crucial talks between the top leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition ended inconclusively on Friday, with Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari seeking more time from his ally Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif, to consider the modalities for reinstatement of the deposed judges. Sharif said that his party remained committed to the restoration of the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf, by May 12. Zardari did not talk to the media.
In a move that could benefit Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, leading Pakistani rights activist Ansar Burney on Thursday asked President Pervez Musharraf to convert all death sentences in the country to life imprisonment. "This is an issue on which we have spoken several times during our meetings and an issue on which I have already sent several appeals," the former human rights minister said.
A British lawmaker of Pakistani origin has talked of the possibility of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf being put on trial in the United Kingdom as he failed to respond to summons from the top court in Islamabad over his controversial decisions to impose emergency and fire judges two years ago.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has nothing to do with the reinstatement of judges deposed during last year's emergency, the presidential spokesman said on Wednesday. Spokesman Major General (retired) Rashid Qureshi said that a final decision in this regard would have to be taken by Pakistan's ruling coalition government. The President is performing his duties in accordance with the constitution and will continue to do so, Qureshi said.
Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday failed to respond to summons from the country's apex court to explain his decision to impose emergency and sack several top judges in 2007. Musharraf, who is now in London as part of his extensive lecture tour, snubbed the summons to appear before a 14-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhary, who had himself been a victim of the military dictator.
Former President Pervez Musharraf said India "cannot dare cast an evil eye" on Pakistan as long as the armed forces are there to defend the country.
In an interview to Karan Thapar on his Devil's Advocate programme on CNN-IBN, he said, 'What happened after that was bad and that lead to lot of turmoil in Pakistan, certainly. But if you say whether that was a mistake? No. I took action which was absolutely constitutional and legal.'
The nomination of Husain Haqqani as the new Pakistani ambassador to the United States, by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, is being seen as a resounding slap on the face of President Pervez Musharraf. Haqqani -- a former journalist, diplomat and currently associate professor at Boston University is one of Musharraf's fiercest critics. In fact, Haqqani has not visited Pakistan for years, fearing possible imprisonment. Haqqani has been scathing in his attacks of Bush govt
The Babur or Hatf VII missile can carry conventional as well as non-conventional nuclear warheads.
They will discuss regional and international issues and review 'means to further deepen and broaden the bilateral ties between the US and Pakistan', the White House said.
The president is also of the view that the Gwadar port project in Balochistan will be affected if he leaves the scene and consequently, Pakistan's "time-tested relations with China could suffer a setback", official sources told the Dawn newspaper. Musharraf also believes that in his absence, no leader or party will be "able to maintain cordial relations with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement," they said.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's reluctance to crack down on radical religious schools and curb Islamabad's support for Taliban militants in Afghanistan has strengthened religious fundamentalists in the country, according to a media report.
Faced with the Sunday deadline, the Pakistan People's Party on Friday said that it would announce the name of the new prime minister this weekend. However, senior party leaders continued to wrestle with differences on the issue over a month after the parliamentary polls.Differences in the PPP on who should lead the coalition government continued with vice chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, once a frontrunner for the post, saying he had suggested a formula to Zardari.
India on Monday asserted its "entire nuclear technology has been developed indigenously and action consistent with responsible behaviour."\n
Pakistan's caretaker Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney has appealed to President Pervez Musharraf to convert the death sentence of Indian national Sarabjit Singh to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds.Burney sent an appeal for mercy to Musharraf on Wednesday to convert the death sentence of Sarabjit into life imprisonment on humanatarian grounds, as he has already spent 17 years in jail which is more than life imprisonment.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday summoned Pakistan's parliament on March 24 to elect the new Prime Minister, though there was still no word from the Pakistan People's Party and its allies on their nominee for the top post.Musharraf received the official communique regarding the convening of the National Assembly to elect the leader of the House from the Prime Minister's Secretariat on Thursday morning.The President signed the summary.
The Pakistan government on Wednesday deferred by 30 days the execution of Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who was set to be hanged on April 1 following his conviction for alleged involvement in bomb attacks in 1990. President Pervez Musharraf deferred the execution of Sarabjit by 30 days after the Indian government made a formal appeal for clemency yesterday, sources in Pakistan's Foreign Office said.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf may accept New Delhi's request of clemency on humanitarian grounds for Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national on death row for carrying out multiple bomb explosions in the Islamic nation's Punjab province, in which 14 people were killed in 1990. A Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) official said the President could consider pardoning Singh. "If that happens, it will be purely on humanitarian grounds," the Nation quoted him as saying.
Though she is not willing to vote for the President even if all cases against her are withdrawn, she has indicated that she would covertly support the reelection by asking her party to abstain at the time of voting, sources said.
Residents of the sleepy and pastoral Chak Shahzad area on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital have mixed feelings about their new neighbour former President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf, who stepped down in August after staying nearly nine years in power, is expected to soon move into a sprawling farm house he has built in Chak Shahzad, a neighbourhood that has a mix of residential homes and dairy farms.
Eight years after 9/11, Pakistan is yet to declare al Qaeda a terrorist organisation. Is this sheer, shocking negligence or is there something more sinister to it? Does one require any more evidence to show that Pakistan's so-called war against terrorism is a farce?
"Now that the atmospherics have improved, the two countries need to move to dispute resolution, especially the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir," Kasuri said.
The PPP and PML-N, in a charter signed two years ago, had committed to setting up a commission to review the Kargil conflict. Musharraf claimed that Sharif, the then prime minister, was aware of the Pakistan army's advances into Kargil. Sharif has denied the charge, and is seeking a probe to fix responsibility for the war.
Claiming that his position is 'strong', Musharraf refused to bow to pressure from the PPP-PML-N combine and step down. Musharraf's allies the PML-Q backed the President and said that the PPP and PML-N together did not have a two-thirds majority and would therefore be unable to strip the president of his powers or impeach him.
Pakistan on Monday ruled out any unilateral demilitarisation along the Line of Control and said President Pervez Musharraf's offer to withdraw troops should be seen in the overall context of his proposals to resolve the Kashmir issue.