The delegation is scheduled to take up these matters with Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, and other senior officials on Tuesday. The team is visiting Pakistan to seek the country's 'agreement to work through Interpol to help identify terrorists worldwide, including those behind the deadly November 26-29 terrorist bombings in Mumbai', said a statement from Interpol.
In a bid to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan, United States on Monday rushed its top Army official to Islamabad, to hold discussions with the country's political leadership. US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen arrived in Islamabad today on an unscheduled visit, second after the November 26 terror strikes in Mumbai that killed more than 180 people. Mullen met Pakistani national security advisor Mehmood Ali Durrani shortly after his arrival.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said the world's superpowers will have to soon make 'serious decisions' about the Kashmir issue, claiming that regional peace is closely linked to the resolution of the decades-old issue with India."The time will soon come when all the world's superpowers (and countries) in this region will have to sit and talk about Kashmir and make serious decisions. I believe the victory will be that of the Kashmiris," he said.
'I have checked myself. His (Ajmal Amir Iman alias Ajmal Kasab) house and village has been cordoned off by the security agencies. His parents are not allowed to meet anybody. I don't understand why it has been done,' Sharif, who hails from Punjab, said in an interview to Geo News channel.
'Yes. Definitely, I do not shrug away from that position. Anybody from my soil is my responsibility,' he told Newsweek magazine when asked to comment about US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's statement that 'non-State' actors on Pakistan's soil are still its responsibility.
In a blunt message to Islamabad in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, British Premier Gordon Brown said on Sunday that "time has come for action" against terrorists operating from the soil of this country as he revealed that the 3/4th of the terror plots investigated by the UK had links to al-Qaeda and Pakistan.
Taking exception to India's contention that "epicentre of terrorism" is located in Pakistan, Islamabad today warned that such comments would be counter-productive for joint efforts to combat the menace and insisted that none of those detained during the crackdown on JuD would be handed over to India.
In the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Pakistan Army chief has informed the country's leadership that if tensions with India mount further, the military will have to move troops from its restive tribal areas to the eastern borders, ending the war against local militants.
Pakistan on Saturday did an about turn on sending the Inter-Services Intelligence chief to India, in connection with the probe into the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, saying a representative of the spy agency would be sent instead of him.The decision was made at a late night meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of the powerful army. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also joined the meeting.
Karzai was administered the oath of office by the head of Supreme Court Abdul Salam Azmi at a grand ceremony at the presidential palace in the presence of 800 guests, including External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
Both countries have always supported the peaceful use of civil nuclear energy and an agreement in this connection is expected to be signed during the President's visit to China which began Tuesday, Ambassador Masood Khan said. The two countries will ink several agreements in the fields of technology, agriculture and minerals. They will also sign an investment protocol to their existing free trade agreement to boost investments in Pakistan, he told Geo News channel.
Arrangements for initiating trade across Line of Control and its infrastructural logistics are being given final touches ahead of a formal announcement expected following the meeting between the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
Talking to media persons, Qureshi said that the peace process between India and Pakistan had not stalled but admitted that there had been 'hiccups'.
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.
In contradiction to Pakistani President's interview to an English daily where he said he was ready to work with India in the 26/11 case, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asserted that Pakistan will not buckle under pressure mounted on the Mumbai attacks issue.
Not a single reference to the LeT. Not a single reference to its continuing terrorist infrastructure. And, we have provided dignity to Pakistan's baseless allegations against Baloch freedom-fighters by agreeing to make a reference to Balochistan in the joint statement in the context of terrorism by indirectly bringing on record Pakistan's projection of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and other Baloch leaders as terrorists, bemoans B Raman
Jailed ex-Pakistan premier Imran Khan's party-backed independent candidates on Friday sprang a surprise by winning 86 seats out of the 201 results declared following unusual delays and allegations of rigging, as the country appeared heading towards a hung assembly.
A three-member bench led by Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed dismissed Sarabjit's review petition on merit and upheld the death sentence awarded to him by an anti-terrorism court in 1991. The apex court gave its verdict after his counsel failed to appear in court.
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.
Dr Singh and Zardari will meet again in Shram-el Sheikh in Egypt on the sidelines of NAM Summit next month to take stock of the outcome of the Foreign Secretaries meet.
With the 30-day deadline for restoring the judges expiring on Wednesday, senior leaders of the two parties, including Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, are trying hard to sort out their differences on modalities. Some progress was made during the talks, but there were unresolved issues, Sharif said adding, he expects the negotiations to conclude on Thursday.
The Pakistan People's Party is set to announce its candidate for prime minister later on Saturday even as the opposition withdrew their nominee for the post following a request from PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. Opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Friday decided to withdraw party leader Farooq Sattar as its joint candidate with ally PML-Q for sthe post of prime minister, paving the way for the PPP nominee to be elected unopposed.
Concerned over increasing influence of Taliban in Pakistan, the United States on Wednesday told top leadership in Islamabad that the "era of lip service was over" and it was now time to work plans and be very specific.
A total of 328 MPs of the 342-member National Assembly were sworn in by outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, after which the House offered special prayers for slain former premier and Zardari's wife Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a suicide attack on a pre-poll rally in December. Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif, who did not contest the election, watched the proceedings from the gallery reserved for guests.
Twenty-six people were killed when a bomb went off in the parking lot of the Federal Investigation Agency office, while four people, including two children, were killed in a separate blast in Lahore's Model Town residential area.Hours later, unidentified gunmen opened fire at a passenger train here, killing four persons and injuring three others, police said.
In the first sign of cracks in the Pakistan People's Party, senior party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said party chairman Asif Ali Zardari's 'unnecessary delay' in naming him as the prime minister has led to the perception that he was being 'humiliated and betrayed'. Asked what would be his reaction if he was not given the post of prime minister, Fahim said: 'I have a roadmap in my mind but I would reveal it only once the decision about the name is announced.'
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the army, the terrorists attacked the security post in Dera Ismail Khan's Daraban area bordering the South Waziristan tribal district in the early morning hours.
The Bush administration has said it continues to support embattled President Pervez Musharraf, whose allies were routed in Pakistan's general election, while maintaining that Washington has no role in the formation of a new government in Islamabad.
Addressing a crowded press conference, Bilawal, flanked by Zardari and Fahim, said that he would continue the struggle to restore democracy in Pakistan with as much vigour as his mother desired. Now that he was the leader, PPP's "long and historic struggle for democracy will continue with new vigour," Bilawal said, adding, "My mother always said that democracy is the best revenge".
Sharif, who had described the killing as the most tragic event in the history of Pakistan, had earlier planned to travel to Larkana in Sindh province to join the funeral at Bhutto's ancestral graveyard in Garhi Khuda Buksh. But when Sharif spoke to Bhutto's husband today morning on the phone, Zardari advised the Pakistan Muslim League-N chief not to travel to Larkana in view of security concerns. PPP workers have already staged violent protests in Larkana.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 'Gen-Next' politician of Pakistan, has said that his Pakistan People's Party would get back entire Kashmir from India.
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.
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.
In a stern message to Pakistan, the United States has asked it to shed its policy of "using insurgents" like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba as a strategic tool and warned that if it cannot deliver against terrorists, the US may be impelled to use "any means" at its disposal.
Pakistan will build two more nuclear reactors with Chinese assistance as part of its efforts to improve civil nuclear cooperation between two close allies, a top official said today.
Pakistan and India are close to concluding an agreement on the Sir Creek maritime boundary dispute, which has been hanging fire for decades, with all issues having been resolved, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said. The joint map and joint survey has been done and there are no more issues to be resolved between the countries, he said.
'We can work together, and of course we will be talking about security,' Bush said, adding, 'Your words have been very strong about Pakistan's sovereign right and sovereign duty to protect your country, and the United States wants to help.'
Several members of the opposition PML-Q, which is aligned with Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf, have publicly urged the former military strongman to step down and some have even said they will vote in favour of an impeachment motion against him.
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.
Pakistan's ruling coalition on Monday appeared to be on the verge of a split after the PPP failed to reach an agreement with its key ally PML-N on the contentious issue of reinstating dozens of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf during last year's emergency. Three days of talks in London between Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and their close aides ended in deadlock on Sunday due to differences on the modalities fo