Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Monday emphasised the need to avoid a conflict with India in the wake of the Mumbai attacks as China launched a diplomatic initiative to ease tensions by dispatching a top diplomat to Islamabad. Kayani's comments, believed to be his first on the situation, came during his talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei, who is in Islamabad.
The Pakistan Army on Monday issued orders to recall nearly 300 officers deployed with various departments of the government and security agencies.
Pakistan on Friday test-fired the nuclear-capable, medium-range 'Ghauri' missile.
Musharraf called the Army "the saviour of Pakistan" and said: "Bina iske, Pakistan ka vajood nahi" (without the army, Pakistan has no identity). That was said as much for the domestic audience as for Uncle Sam.
'The decision has been taken in view of the regional security environment.'
Kiyani is a non-controversial officer, who had in the past not come to notice for any dubious association with the Taliban or Al Qaeda or any of Pakistan's fundamentalist organisations.
Kayani 'reaffirmed the commitment of the Pakistan Army to the Kashmir cause in line with the aspirations of the Pakistani nation', said a statement issued by the military. Kayani's comments came in the wake of Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari's remarks that India and Pakistan should not let their relations be held hostage to the Kashmir dispute.
Pakistan's Army is to ask the country's embattled President Pervez Musharraf to relinquish office in a week's time as its top brass would not want him to be impeached, a news report said on Saturday.
Gen Kiyani has already withdrawn regular army troops from South Waziristan as demanded by Baitullah and has lifted the economic blocade imposed against the Mehsuds.
Nawaz Sharif's brother Shahbaz may hold talks with Pakistani Army generals soon to negotiate a deal before the deposed premier returns home, most probably on September 9, a leading daily reported on Monday.
In a letter written to the officers, Gen Kiyani said the role of the Armed Forces had already been defined in the country's laws and Constitution and there was no role of the Army in the country's politics.
Emerging reports from Pakistan suggest that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf might opt to step down in the wake of a meeting with the Army chief though the President himself denied the news. Musharraf held a meeting with army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at the Army House in Rawalpindi on Wednesday night that lasted over three-and-half hours.
President General Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday handed over charge of the Pakistan army to General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani.
Police lathicharged and arrested over a 1,000 lawyers who took to the streets across Pakistan on Monday in protest against the imposition of emergency even as rumours that President Pervez Musharraf had been put under house arrest swept the country.
Adults are as likely as children to fall prey to diseases that immunisation can potentially prevent.
General Taj has been closely associated with Musharraf, having been his military secretary at the time of the 1999 coup.
Mohammad Afshaq had challenged the Delhi High Court judgement which upheld the death sentence awarded to him by a trial court.
Those set free include Suleiman Memon, brother of prime accused Tiger Memon and Raheen Memon, wife of another accused Yakub Memon.
State-run PTV quoted the Inter-Services Public Relations as saying that Kiyani will take up his new assignment once the President, who is seeking re-election in the October 6 ballot, gives up his uniform.
Musharraf is widely believed to have chosen former ISI chief Lt Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani as his successor to head the Army, says Newsweek in its upcoming issue.
While the high court upheld the death penalty awarded to Pakistani militant Mohammed Ashfaq, it acquitted six others, saying that there were not sufficient evidence against them.
The court acquitted another accused for lack of evidence.
He said as of now the strike, which began on Monday, will continue till Saturday morning and a decision to continue it further would be taken in a meeting.
Parrikar had compared the neigbouring country to "hell" and asserted that it should stop human rights violations in Balochistan.
Tarishi, according to the minister, was 19-years-old. She passed out from American School Dhaka. Presently, she was a student at Berkeley.
Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani today visited the LoC to assess the security situation in the wake of violations of a ceasefire in the region over the past few weeks.
If Imran Khan delays his assent to General Bajwa's recommendations any further, it could imply he is taking stock of possible serious dissent within Pakistan's top army echelons, says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Because of these clashes, train services between Srinagar and Banihal were suspended by railway authorities for the day.
India's top two squash players enjoyed contrasting fortunes at the Northern Open squash Championship.
The weekend army reshuffle is a clear sign that Musharraf will not step down as army chief in December, say analysts.
Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership knew about Osama bin Laden's presence in the country much before the US Navy SEALs killed him in a raid in 2011, the nation's then defence minister has claimed.
The top seeded Indian was beaten by Basit Ashfaq of Pakistan in the fourth round in the World junior individual squash championship.
Witness Yunus Khan expressed inability to identify key accused Ashfaq.
General Bajwa remains in command as army chief and Prime Minister Imran Khan did not play any role in the reshuffle, says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
The increase in violence along the Line of Control in the last few weeks indicates that despite the olive branch offered by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, hard-line elements in Islamabad are in no mood to become friendly with India.
Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and his brother Abdul Rauf Asghar, mastermind of IC-814 hijack case, are among four persons identified by Indian intelligence agencies as 'handlers' behind the recent Pathankot attack.
