President Asif Ali Zardari has assured the United States that the Pakistan government will not allow anybody to challenge its writ or run a parallel administration in any part of the country. Zardari gave the assurance to US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke during a telephonic conversation, the Daily Times reported on Friday.
A resurgent Taliban in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley on Monday vowed to enforce Islamic laws across the country while ruling out the possibility of laying down arms, following the implementation of Sharia in the region.The Sharia or Islamic law regime approved recently by President Asif Ali Zardari will not be confined to Malakand division, which includes Swat, and the Taliban wants the system to be enforced in other parts of Pakistan, Taliban spokesman said.
Pakistan's parliament on Monday endorsed a move to enforce Islamic laws in the restive northwestern Swat valley, which is largely controlled by the Taliban, and asked President Asif Ali Zardari to accord approval to the measure to usher in peace across the country.The National Assembly or lower house of the parliament adopted a resolution recommending that President Zardari should accord approval to the Nizam-e-Adal Regulation to implement Shariah or Islamic laws in Swat.
Pakistan will move forward to resolve the Kashmir issue with India through a peaceful dialogue and the nation's new government will continue confidence-building measures initiated by the previous regime, Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday.
"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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday made it clear that the composite dialogue with Pakistan would not be possible until Islamabad shows 'visible results' with regard to the investigation in the Mumbai terror attacks. The Prime Minister said that Islamabad should convince New Delhi about their 'sincerity and determination' to deal with the menace of terrorism.
The international community, including India, must offer the Pakistan government all the help and encouragement that it needs to fight and root out the menace of radical extremism, or else the terrorists will spread their tentacles far and wide -- including, eventually, into India.
Two months after resigning as Pakistan Cricket Board's Director-General, Javed Miandad on Monday returned to the post with more powers and the backing of PCB patron-in-chief and the country's President Asif Ali Zardari.
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 world public must applaud the people of Pakistan for fighting authoritarianism and taking a major step towards real democratisation through an independent judiciary.
Reacting to Zardari's comment that the Kashmir issue be set aside for focus on Indo-Pak ties as a whole, Kashmiri separatist leaders asserted that the resolution of the Kashmir was vital for peace in south Asia.
Sanam Bhutto, the sister of Zardari's slain wife Benazir Bhutto, had denied giving any interview to journalist Daphne Barak which was the basis of the reports in the Pakistani media, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement issued in Islamabad on Wednesday.
Amid speculation that the Pakistan People's Party was opposed to restoring deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry as he could scrap a law granting amnesty to party leaders, President Asif Ali Zardari has said he was never against the sacked judge.
The deal between President Asif Ali Zardari and Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif does not herald a solution to the instability of the nuclear-armed Pakistan nor does it ensure the Obama administration's primary objective of tamping down the Taliban insurgency, a media report said today.
"We believe that all the difficulties the country is facing can be resolved with the support of all the political parties," Zardari told journalists after meeting Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The PML-N has indicated that it will support the PPP-led government from outside. Zardari has been working to get the backing of all parties, including the Jamiat, for the government and his meeting with Rehman was part of these efforts.
Zardari was confident that Sharif would not dare to come on the roads himself. The Pakistan government repeatedly informed Sharif about the threat of 'suicide bombers', but Sharif was undeterred.
At a luncheon hosted by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for newly elected Parliamentarians, leaders of the three parties said they would support each other to form the federal government and to change the establishment to ensure that the military no longer had a role in Pakistan's politics.
Amid efforts to defuse the political crisis, former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif has attacked President Asif Ali Zardari for "fighting democracy" and blamed his actions for the unrest in the country.
Sharif told a television news channel in an interview on Thursday that Zardari, whom he has blamed for influencing the apex court's verdict, would not be able to complete his term. He did not give details.
Pakistan's two main Opposition parties stepped up efforts on Friday to identify a consensus candidate for Prime Minister and hammer out a power-sharing formula after the former rivals agreed to form a coalition government.
Ending the suspense on government formation in Pakistan, the two main opposition parties on Thursday announced they would form a new ruling coalition, but did not name any prime ministerial candidate.
The Bush administration may fail to save its most trusted friend because the PPP and PML-N are determined to form a coalition and clip all those powers through which a president can dissolve parliament.
Political tensions in Pakistan rose on Monday with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif openly asking people to come to the streets and the government warning the former prime minister that his anti-government speeches amounted to sedition.
As India continues to push Pakistan to eliminate terrorism, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said he believes President Asif Ali Zardari is sincere about ending the menace, but underlined that his desire should be backed by actions. "I believe he (Zardari) has the desire to fight against terrorism," he said in an interview to a TV channel while describing the Pakistan President as a 'nice man and a gentleman'.
An Indian peace delegation, during its visit to Pakistan after the Mumbai terror strikes, has tried to impress upon the Zardari government to expedite prosecution of the perpetrators of the carnage saying the people in India are "angered" by the ghastly incident.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday fired the special public prosecutor in the Mumbai terror attack case, more than a week after the senior lawyer sparked a controversy claiming that Islamabad had formally requested India to hand over Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the three-day terror siege..
The Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has acknowledged that the Taliban, with whom his government reached a truce deal in the restive Swat valley days ago, are "murderous thugs and militants" who "pose a danger to Pakistan, the United States and India".
Acknowledging that his government had underestimated the threat from Taliban, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said the terrorist group was present in "huge amounts of land" in the country extending its reach beyond the tribal belt to larger cities like Peshawar.
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.
Describing India as a 'mature democracy,' Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said there is no threat to Pakistan from it, even as he sought resumption of the composite dialogue process stalled since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Pakistan is ready to wage a thousand-year war with India over the Kashmir dispute
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.
Bhutto's husband Asif Zardari and her three children, who arrived in Islamabad late on Thursday night, had a brief chance to see the body before the plane left for Sukkur near Lakarna.
Obama, who called Zardari on Tuesday evening, held a "detailed conversation covering several important subjects," said an official statement.
Amid reports of a rift between them, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met in Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the regional security situation after the country's admission that captured Mumbai attacker Ajmal Amir Kasab is its national. The meeting came amid Pakistani media reports that Zardari was angry over Gilani's decision to sack Durrani without consulting him. Durrani had been handpicked by Zardari for the key post last year.
American Vice President-elect Joseph Biden will travel to Pakistan this week to defuse regional tensions in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, according to a media report.
Khan said Zardari does not want to 'ruffle any feathers in New Delhi' or blame India for being involved through Afghanistan for terrorist attacks in Pakistan. 'He basically does what Americans want him to do. He is petrified of anything where he would get Americans upset,' Khan told his biographer Frank Huzur in an interview.
Shehbaz Sharif, the joint opposition's candidate for the post of prime minister, on Sunday vowed that the new government in Pakistan want to 'move forward' and not indulge in 'politics of revenge'.
Pakistan's peace and stability are linked to the defeat of militants and terrorists in the country and Islamabad is in a dialogue with the world community on this, President Asif Ali Zardari has said."Pakistan had been attacked by militants and it is imperative to defeat them for peace and stability in the country," Zardari said."The whole nation is a victim of militancy and terrorism & we must join hands for fighting the menace regardless of partisan considerations,"he said
Bhutto, who was scheduled to go on a four-day trip to Dubai where her husband Asif Ali Zardari, her daughter and her mother currently live, was stopped at the international airport in Islamabad.
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