Amid a controversy around Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani, news reports said he was seeking asylum in the United States, but the envoy denied this and said he would return to his country shortly to explain his position on a secret memo purportedly sent by President Asif Ali Zardari to the Obama administration.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday virtually accused the Asif Ali Zardari-led Pakistan government of surrendering to terrorists.Mincing no words over the Barack Obama administration's anger over the Zardari government's striking a deal with the Taliban in Swat Valley, Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that "I think that the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists."
A US-based businessman has claimed that he has "crystal clear" evidence to back his claim that he acted as an intermediary between President Asif Ali Zardari and the US administration to avert a military coup in wake of the unilateral US raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has struck down President Asif Ali Zardari's order appointing two top judges, stoking fears of a fresh showdown between the government and judiciary with the ruling Pakistan People's Party blaming the fiercely independent Chief Justice for the crisis. Going against the recommendations of the country's top judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, the President on Saturday appointed Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif as a judge of the apex court.
Seeking to lower temperatures, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday said Pakistan is not talking of war or vengeance and that dialogue is the solution for all issues in the region.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Wednesday he intended to set up an international commission to probe the assassination of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto during a meeting with her widower, President Asif Ali Zardari.
The confidential document shows that the then British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had called Zardari, asking him to send the ISI chief to India, to which the President readily agreed. He, however, was overruled by the Pakistani Army led by General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.
Pakistan wants the early resumption of the stalled composite dialogue process with India and is committed to not allowing its soil to be used by terrorists against any country, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said on Sunday.
Pakistan People's Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took to Twitter to express his feelings about his first visit to India, saying it was a "shame" that the two countries were spending money on weapons at a time when many people on both sides of the border were living in poverty.
The 47-year-old Democrat briefly spoke to Zardari, King Abdullah, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and its Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday over telephone, thanking them for their congratulatory messages.
A United States lawmaker has written to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, asking him to look into the matter of the "forcible conversion" of a Hindu girl and ensure her safe return to her family. In a strongly-worded letter, dated March 12, Brad Sherman, a lawmaker from California urged Zardari to take steps to ensure that those responsible for such acts are held accountable. "I urge you to take action to ensure the safe return of this girl to her family," Sherman said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Iran for home on Friday after concluding a four-day visit to Iran during which he attended the 16th NAM Summit and held crucial bilateral meetings, including with Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
'Outrage will take place sooner than later, because it's not only that their mandate has been stolen, but the most important issue right now is the sinking economy in Pakistan.' 'Inflation is 26%-27%. It is backbreaking inflation.' 'Food, energy, education, health, which are the primary things that every family requires, is going beyond the reach of the masses.'
In a setback to Asif Ali Zardari, a Pakistani court on Thursday ruled that the President, who is also the chief of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, should suspend political activities and must be impartial.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for failing to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and asked him to appear before it on January 19.
Coming down heavily on beleaguered Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said he is not an honest man, as it warned of action against him for failing to act on an order to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Launching cricket diplomacy to give a fresh impetus to bilateral ties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday invited President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to watch the India-Pakistan cricket encounter in Mohali on March 30 when he will also be present.
Pakistan is expected to reopen the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply line anytime now, as the United States has agreed to tender an apology in 'soft words' over the Salala checkpost incident, reports Tahir Ali
Claiming that the Mumbai carnage had "significant support from within India itself," President Asif Ali Zardari has said Pakistan needs cooperation from India to build the case for "effective prosecution" of the accused in courts in his country.
India's latest offer of talks has been taken up by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
India's latest offer of talks has been taken up by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Praising Dr Singh as an "excellent economist", Zardari told the then National Security Advisor Gen (rtd) James Jones in a meeting in Islamabad on June 25, 2009 that the Indian Prime Minister was unaware of what it took to change the mindset of the Pakistani establishment.
Shehbaz Sharif, the joint opposition's candidate for the post of prime minister, on Sunday vowed that the new government in Pakistan want to 'move forward' and not indulge in 'politics of revenge'.
Notwithstanding the chill in bilateral relations, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have sent their New Year greetings to their Indian counterparts.Zardari and Gilani have sent their greetings to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through the Ministry of External Affairs, sources said on Wednesday.
In a bargaining tactic, Pakistan has urged the United States to push India for a 'diplomatic rapprochement' with it, in lieu of its crackdown on terror groups, particularly in tribal areas where top Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are hiding. This tactic of Pakistan -- for which, observers say, its leaders have been known for -- is clearly being articulated by President Asif Ali Zardari in his three-page letter written to his US counterpart Barack Obama.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly denied his country's involvement in the audacious attacks in Mumbai, saying the terror strikes in the India's financial capital were executed by the 'stateless actors who wanted to hold the entire world hostage'.Zardari also ruled out any possibility of Pakistan and India going to war, saying "democracies do not go to war". He asserted that the state of Pakistan is not responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
The Pakistan People's Party-led government is considering a proposal to seek Interpol's Red Corner notice against ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf, in a bid to bring him back from abroad to face treason charges, days after he called party chief and President Asif Ali Zardari 'a criminal and a fraud'. Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani had even hinted that it might not be possible to put Musharraf on trial, after main opposition PML-N stepped up demands for action against him.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday backtracked on his remarks describing militants in Jammu and Kashmir as "terrorists", saying there is no change in Pakistan's Kashmir policy, a day after his comments triggered an outcry in this country.
Indicating that Dr Singh will take up with Zardari the issue of continued cross-border terrorism and ceasefire violations, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon asserted that an atmosphere free of violence and terror was necessary for the dialogue process between the two countries to move ahead.
Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned the serial blasts in Delhi, terming those responsible as 'enemies of humanity'.In separate messages, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani expressed shock and grief over the loss of precious human lives.Gilani said the elements involved in such 'heinous acts are enemies of humanity'.
With the Pakistan People's Party's efforts to strike a deal with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz not bearing fruit, candidates of the three main parties, including Asif Ali Zardari, on Saturday remained in the fray for the September 6 presidential poll in Pakistan.PPP chief Zardari, PML-N nominee Saeed-uz Zaman Siddiqui and Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid's Mushahid Hussain Sayed will be the three candidates contesting the elections.
The crisis encircling Pakistan's fragile ruling coalition reached a boiling point on Sunday with the Pakistan People's Party refusing to comply with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's demand on reinstating sacked judges within a deadline and the ally also not enthusiastic about supporting Asif Ali Zardari for presidency.
Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif has threatened to pull his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party out of the ruling coalition and "sit in the opposition" if judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf are not reinstated by Friday.
With his forces battling Taliban militants in the country's troubled northwest, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari does not see India as the foremost threat and says the "position of being able to take over another state is nullified" after both countries acquired nuclear arms."I would love to be remembered for creating a Pakistan where militancy -- I know it can't totally be diminished -- is defeated," he said.
Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's lawyer will file a fresh mercy petition before Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday, in the wake of the Supreme Court dismissing his appeal against capital punishment.Owais Sheikh, the new counsel for Sarabjit, said the petition seeking clemency for the Indian national will include a letter addressed to Zardari by the condemned man.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that he is 'disenchanted' with the way India handled the bilateral relations in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks as he expected New Delhi to 'behave much more maturely'. "This new-age terror has created a phenomenon where a few people can take entire states to war. The fact that these people happen to belong to Pakistan or India or Bangladesh is immaterial. They are non-state actors, and states should behave like states."
Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has reportedly decided to move an impeachment motion against President Pervez Musharraf immediately on his return from Saudi Arabia, a move that will force the President to quit rather than be thrown out.Local daily, The News, quoted sources as saying that the decision was conveyed by Zardari to all relevant foreign players, including the Saudis. Zardari had issued instructions to party leaders to start work.
A 'chadar' was on Sunday offered on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the dargah of sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.
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.
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