'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.
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.
'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 a serious turn of events, a Senate Committee recommended President Asif Ali Zardari to remove Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt from his post after finding him guilty in two privilege motions.
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.
Inter State Intelligence chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha has cancelled a scheduled visit to Britain in protest against Prime Minister David Cameron's remarks that Pakistan must stop promoting "export of terror," though President Asif Ali Zardari will go ahead with a planned trip to London next week.
Krishna was with Dr Singh for about 30 minutes during which he gave a detailed account of his talks with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.
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.
The United States on Thursday said it will make sure that justice is delivered to the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and that it has conveyed the same to Pakistan government.
Fatima had the first launch of Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter's Memoir at Clifton Gardens at the exact spot in the port city of Karachi where her father Mir Murtaza Bhutto was killed nearly 14 years ago.
"President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in a bid to prolong their rule at the Centre and in the province of Punjab, respectively, are following American policies and have turned Pakistan into a US colony," he said.
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.
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.
Close on the heels of the killing of two abducted Sikhs by Taliban in the restive tribal belt, the case of kidnapping of a Pakistani Hindu has come to light.
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.
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.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is on shaky grounds, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is pro-America and Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is doing well in taking military action against terrorists in his country, a top Republican Senator said on Monday.
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.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Visits at the top level help in imparting the required momentum to bilateral relations, says B Raman
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
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.
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.
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.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday offered peace talks to militants in Pakistan's troubled northwest even as security forces claimed to have killed more than 50 rebels in an operation in the tribal belt.
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.
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.