With the expiry of the two-year political ban on him, former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has started consultations with his close aides to announce his comeback in the country's politics.
This article traces the history of the DMK's fight for state autonomy, beginning with C.N. Annadurai's advocacy in the 1960s and culminating in M. Karunanidhi's resolution in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 1974. The article highlights the key figures involved, the arguments presented, and the impact of the Rajamannar Committee Report.
Counting has begun for the election which will be the second democratic transition of power in the nation's 70-year history.
Voicing concern at the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan's restive tribal areas, the US on Tuesday asked the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to narrow its differences with the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party over the operation launched against militants in the country's northwest.
With influential cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri descending on Islamabad with swarms of his supporters, Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday lobbied with top political leaders, including Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif, to uphold the democratic system.
The three main political parties in Pakistan on Sunday intensified their efforts for the formation of a coalition government after it became clear that the coup-prone country faced a hung Parliament after general elections marred by allegations of rigging.
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.
Pakistan's Election Commission has put off a decision on recognising former President Pervez Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League party due to objections over its name and symbol. However, it has registered 14 new political parties.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Friday held talks with leaders from various political parties in Pakistan, including Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz's Shahbaz Sharif to whom he presented a 'chaddar' to be placed on the revered shrine of Data Darbar which was attacked by terrorists recently.A delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaders led by Overseas Pakistan Affairs Minister Farooq Sattar met Krishna on Friday morning.
The Pakistan Muslim League N chief Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday demanded early general elections, saying the country's problems would increase as long as the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government remains in office.
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.
Our top leaders want to see Sharif as the Prime Minister in case our party does badly in the upcoming general elections," the Dawn quoted the ruling party sources as saying in Islamabad.
The Pakistan People's Party on Tuesday nominated 51-year-old Mirza, a medical graduate, and Faisal Karim Kundi as its candidates for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker respectively of the Lower House of Parliament. The two candidates are expected to win as the Pakistan People's Party and its allies -- Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam -- have a majority in the National Assembly.
Leaders of Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League told the media that he had delayed his plans to return to Pakistan later this month after consulting friends and party leaders
Imran Khan on Wednesday promised to cooperate with Nawaz Sharif to tackle key challenges like terrorism despite "serious political differences" with the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz chief who is set to become Pakistan's next prime minister. "We have serious political differences but we decided that we will work together to solve the country's problems, including terrorism," the cricketer-turned-politician said in a video message aired at a news conference.
Pakistan's nuclear arsenal deterred India from carrying out any attacks and made the country's defence impregnable, former premier Nawaz Sharif has claimed.
The author says there was massive rigging in Pakistan polls despite a Musharraf loss
On Sunday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) formed the committee to probe the explosive allegations levelled by former Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha that widespread rigging aided by the judiciary and the top election body took place against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
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.
Pakistan's election commission on Sunday declared the final result of Thursday's general elections in which independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party got the biggest piece of the cake by winning 101 seats.
Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf will announce on August 14 the roadmap for the next general elections that are likely to be held in the first week of November, months ahead of schedule.
The Bilawal Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party which won the third largest number of seats in the National Assembly in the elections appears to be split on whether to join a coalition government or sit on Opposition benches.
Show me the moolah! Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf's party has come out with a rate card for those wanting to join his entourage for his planned homecoming from self-exile -- just USD 2,500 or about Rs 2,50,000.
There is no change in India's Pakistan policy after general elections in the neighbouring country, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Saturday. "There was no change in our policy towards Pakistan," he told mediapersons at the Hindustan Aeronautics complex in Nashik.
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.
Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party's popularity has gone down by a massive 22 per cent among likely voters, according to a survey. The survey, conducted by the International Republican Institute, has shown that the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz Sharif group) has witnessed an increase of 3.7 per cent in its popularity.
Pakistan's ruling Pakistan People's Party has begun secret negotiations with Pervez Musharraf's party to isolate its rival Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and to facilitate the former military ruler's possible return to the country, a media report said on Monday.
Smaller parties in Pakistan have launched a bid to patch up differences between President Asif Ali Zardari and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif before matters reach a point of no return.
The Pakistan prime minister will be from Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz joint secretary Siddique-ul Farooq said on Friday.
Mamnoon Hussain, the Pakistan Muslim League-N candidate expected to win Pakistan's presidential election next week, graduated from a seminary, sources said on Thursday.
Bilawal has said the reality is that his party does not have a mandate to form a federal government.
Whenever tenures of army chiefs were extended in the recent past, prime ministers were subsequently eased out of office by the same army chief, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf believes that he os the panacea for Pakistan if it were to be saved from being a failed state, thanks to the 'inept and pathetic performance' by President Asif Ali Zardari led civilian government in Islamabad.Musharraf said that at the time he left office, the poverty rate in Pakistan, according to World Bank figures, had been halved, from 34 percent to 17 percent. "Which government has done this?" he asked.
Asked about the PPP's move to link the restoration of judges with a Constitutional package for judicial reforms, Sharif said the two could not be linked. "We have been discussing both since Wednesday and that (Constitutional package) is a separate issue. The restoration (of the judges) will take place through a resolution," Sharif said after a meeting with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
Former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif has created ripples in Pakistan's political and religious circles by saying that the members of the minority Ahmedi sect are his brothers and sisters, and that militants should be flushed out wherever they are active.
In a sign of growing rancour between Pakistan's ruling coalition partners, Pakistan People's Party chairman Asif Ali Zardari has lashed out at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shahbaz Sharif for not taking steps to release his friend, who is in a Punjab jail for nine years on charges of drug smuggling. The PML-N president has reportedly turned down the request though his party is in power in Punjab.
Pakistan Muslim League, a key partner in Pakistan's ruling coalition on Tuesday withdrew 17 of its ministers from the federal cabinet, saying the Pakistan People's Party-led government had failed to honour its commitments and to resolve the problems of the people.
Sharif, 68, was disqualified by the apex court in the Panama Papers case last year under Article 62 of the Constitution for failing to declare a receivable salary as an asset.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who will travel to Islamabad next week to hold talks with President Asif Ali Zardari and caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, will also meet Pakistan Muslim League chief Nawaz Sharif, who is set to form Pakistan's new government.
Pakistan's ruling coalition leaders on Friday held hectic consultations to resolve differences over the restoration of deposed judges, which are threatening to split up the alliance, even as the Pakistan Peoples Party said that it would take steps to resolve the issue through a debate in parliament.Former premier Nawaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League-N is the second largest party in the ruling coalition, has threatened to pull out of the alliance.