Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting with military and civilian officials to review tensions with India after the killing of five Indian soldiers along the LoC.
Before the elections, concerns have been raised in the country over the participation of hardline Islamist groups in large numbers.
'What the long term repercussions of the Ayodhya judgment are will unfold in time.' 'And I hope the consequences are not going to be as damaging to us as they were to Pakistan,' says Aakar Patel.
By weakening Sharif, the corps commanders could have a final say in important matters like relations with India, dealing with Taliban militants, interacting with Americans and once again achieving strategic depth in post-NATO Afghanistan. Which is why they may be behind the unrest in Pakistan led by Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri, says Shahzad Raza.
Don't be surprised if Imran invites Modi and other South Asian leaders for his swearing-in ceremony, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Angry passengers on board a Pakistan International Airlines flight stopped former interior minister Rehman Malik and a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz from boarding the plane, accusing them of causing over two hours of delay.
The India card is now almost obsolete. There are more pressing challenges. People of Pakistan are fed up with years of bad governance, corruption and broken promises of successive governments. However, the politicians and former generals are still provoking sentiments on what is happening on the Line of Control for petty political gains, says Shahzad Raza.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, 68, and his daughter Maryam, 44, are serving jail terms of 10-years and seven years respectively in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, after an accountability court convicted them on July 6 over the family's ownership of four luxury flats in London.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act filed by an activist. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant issued notice to the Centre on activist Saket Gokhale's plea and tagged them along with over 160 petitions challenging the CAA which are listed for hearing this month.
A bench headed by CJI Bobde is likely to hear a batch of 143 petitions. The apex court had on January 9 refused to entertain a plea seeking that the CAA be declared constitutional, saying the country is going through difficult times and there is so much violence that endeavour should be for peace.
Hafiz Saeed has confirmed that his organisation Jammat-ud-Dawa would contest the 2018 general elections under the banner of the MML.
The meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi drew mixed reactions in Pakistan, with most of the political parties accusing Sharif of failing to highlight Kashmir but the media was generally positive.
Thousands of anti-government protesters led by opposition leader Imran Khan on Saturday reached Islamabad with an aim of ousting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
'Imran Khan might actually get some initial leeway from the generals to pursue better ties with India -- but not beyond a point.'
The US needs to do three things to help the newly elected Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan, says Stanley A Weiss
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday decided to meet opposition leader Imran Khan in an effort to end the anti-government protests seeking his ouster, as Pakistan's powerful military called for calm and asked all stakeholders to resolve the impasse through meaningful talks.
'If you take pride only in being a nation with nuclear weapons and a strong military, then you think very differently from those nations that take pride in having wonderful universities and academic institutions.'
The two were convicted on July 6 in the Avenfield properties case linked to the Sharif family's ownership of four luxury flats in London.
While the Indian Government was aware of it, it tried to play it down and instead referred to it as genocide against the Bengali community in Bangladesh so as to avoid an outcry from the leaders of the then Jan Sangh, the predecessor of the today's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, says Gary J Bass, author of the book The Blood Telegram: Nixon Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide, which recently hit the book stores.
Let us see the problem for what it actually is: Illegal Immigration plain and simple, confined to the northeast with a definite communal slant that poses a national security risk and one that needs to be dealt with firmly and promptly by stringent identification (and deportation), says Vivek Gumaste.
'The Modi government would chaff at the very idea of holding talks with Pakistan, facilitated by Washington and under close US monitoring, when the 2019 poll is sailing into view.' 'But in politics and diplomacy, there may be moments when drinking from the chalice of poison is necessary,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, hearing a petition filed by lawyer Vineet Dhanda seeking stern legal action against those disturbing peace and harmony in the country in the name of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, said, "The country is going through a critical time, the endeavour must be to bring peace and such petitions do not help."
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
India is one of the few countries in the region that enjoys good relations with both Israel and Saudi Arabia, and IMEC would allow it to recreate the old Spice Route to Europe. All this is in jeopardy now, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar, gave the unanimous verdict on several identical petitions pertaining to the duration of disqualification of a politician under Article 62(1)(f) of the Pakistan Constitution, reported Samaa TV.
The Pakistani election on July 25 has a strong Indian flavour and connection, says Vivek Shukla.
The court also refused to suspend the conviction in the case until the appeals were decided.
Ahead of Premier Li Keqiang's maiden visit to Islamabad, China on Thursday ruled out any change in bilateral ties with the new Pakistan government led by Nawaz Sharif, saying the "all weather" relationship will continue.
The AMU defended the portrait, saying that Jinnah was a founder of the university and granted life membership of the student union.
Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari has returned to the country, ending his 18-month-long self-imposed exile, amidst speculations about his future role in the Pakistan Peoples Party, which has threatened a major protest against the Nawaz Sharif government.
'After General Raheel Sharif took on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, some sections of the military establishment may have felt unease as to whether the crackdown could be extended against friendlier 'non-State' actors like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.'
Jayanta Roy Chowdhury reports on how the West Bengal elections are being fought by the BJP and Trinalool Congress amid COVID challenges, 'Bangaliana', and campaigns based on religion, region, and caste.
'In the first elections, Hindutva forces got only 6% of the votes and won only 10 seats.' 'It was a great defeat for them.' 'They have held that grouse against Nehru since then.'
Rajnath Singh led the delegation of 26 MPs from 20 parties which stayed overnight in Srinagar before stopping over in Jammu this afternoon.
The 68-year-old former first lady was diagnosed with lymphoma (throat) cancer in August 2017.
Opposition leader Imran Khan on Sunday again demanded that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif quit for 30 days to allow an independent probe into alleged rigging in last year's polls, hours after the government outrightly rejected the proposal to end the crippling political deadlock.
From a Pakistan-trained militant to one of the prominent separatist faces in Kashmir, life has come a full circle for chief of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik, who was in limelight for varied reasons over the past three decades of turmoil in the erstwhile restive border state.
Three cases -- Avenfield properties case, Flagship Investment case and Al-Azizia steel mills case -- were launched by the National Accountability Bureau on September 8, 2017 following a judgment by the apex court that disqualified Sharif.
'It seems that the BJP in its desire to catapult Modi onto the international stage, knowing the image deficit due to visa denials, has caused unhappiness in Tamil Nadu, uncertainty in Bangladesh and a churning in Pakistan that Sharif may or may not be able to control,' says Ambassador K C Singh.
'We are the first government that has started disarming militant groups. This is the first time it's happening. We've taken over their institutes, their seminaries. We have administrators there'