Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was accorded a red carpet welcome as he arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday on a two-day maiden visit to "iron brother" Pakistan for talks on bilateral and regional issues focusing economic cooperation.
Portfolios were on Wednesday allocated to the 14 members of Pakistan's interim administration, with caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso retaining the key foreign and defence ministries.
Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Tuesday resigned as Pakistan's Finance Minister amid mounting speculation that he would play a key role in the caretaker administration that is expected to oversee the next general election scheduled for mid-May.
Pakistan and China on Monday signed an agreement to hand over control of the strategic Gwadar deep sea port to a Chinese company, with President Asif Ali Zardari saying the move would give new impetus to bilateral relations and economic cooperation.
Pakistan's top leadership has re-affirmed its support for the people of Kashmir, saying confidence-building measures initiated with India should lead to the resolution of the dragging dispute over the region. In messages issued on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day that is observed on February 5 every year, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf reiterated Pakistan's political, moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people.
India is among the 12 countries invited by Pakistan to participate in a regional ministerial conference on countering narcotics trafficking that is being hosted by Islamabad next week.
Pakistan on Sunday sought the support of SAARC countries in fighting the menace of illegal drugs, that were being used as a "weapon of war", as parliamentary delegations from India and other members gathered for a meeting of the regional grouping.
Pakistan's next general election will be held on May 11, marking the first ever transfer of power from an elected government to another in the country's chequered democratic history.
The Opposition parties need 172 members in the 342-member house to orchestrate the downfall of Prime Minister Khan.
Earlier in the day, Nawaz Sharif resigned from the prime minister's office following disqualification from the Supreme Court in the Panamagate verdict.
Pakistan and China have signed an agreement in Islamabad to hand over the GwadarPort to a Chinese company.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Iran for home on Friday after concluding a four-day visit to Iran during which he attended the 16th NAM Summit and held crucial bilateral meetings, including with Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
All Indian fishermen in Pakistani jails would be released soon, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Tuesday.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar is facing a challenge from within her party, with Pakistan People's Party leader and parliamentarian Jamshed Dasti saying he will contest the next general election from her constituency in Punjab.
China's new Premier Li Keqiang will arrive in Islamabad next week to meet Pakistan's new leadership to give "further impetus" to the strategic ties between the two 'all-weather' allies.
According to sources, this decision was taken during a high-level informal meeting held at the Presidency, which was chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari and attended by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, ISI DG Lt. Gen Zaheerul Islam, foreign secretary and Pakistan's ambassador to US Sherry Rehman, reports The Nation.
Faced with a non-bailable arrest warrant against Makhdoom Shahabuddin, its first choice for prime minister's post, ruling Pakistan Peoples Party on Thursday fielded senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira at the last minute besides a "covering" candidate.
The confrontation between the two will continue in other forms and other arenas, but to describe the recent judgement disqualifying Gilani as a judicial coup would be overstating its significance and implications, says B Raman.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party has nominated senior leader Makhdoom Shahabuddin for the post of premier following the Supreme Court's disqualification of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. Shahbuddin is also a Sajjada Nashin or the descendant of a Sufi saint like his predecessor Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Pakistan is expected to reopen the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply line anytime now, as the United States has agreed to tender an apology in 'soft words' over the Salala checkpost incident, reports Tahir Ali
Pakistan's main opposition Pakistan Muslim Lea-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif has demanded early elections, amidst speculation about the future of beleaguered President Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government that has been rocked by string of crises.
Pakistan's parliament is likely to be dissolved in January next year and a caretaker government installed to oversee elections to be held by April. Speculation has increased in political circles about the government preparing a preliminary roadmap for the next general election, which is scheduled for early next year.
Presenting some of the most scintillating pictures from around the globe in the last 24 hours
India is likely to thin out troops from wartime positions on the border with Pakistan, where they were deployed after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, according to a media report on Monday.
Public confidence in the Pakistani national government, which is seen by Pakistanis as too cozy to the US government, has nosedived, reaching a low of 23 percent in March and October 2012, a new US Survey has found.
With the next elections to Pakistan's National Assembly due in the beginning of 2013, Pakistani politics has started picking up momentum and sliding into the contentious and venomous mode.
With the next elections to Pakistan's National Assembly due in the beginning of 2013, Pakistani politics has started picking up momentum and sliding into the contentious and venomous mode.
China is "working hard" to improve ties between India and close-ally Pakistan, despite facing heavy criticism from within and its expression of happiness over President Asif Ali Zardari's visit to India is "no hollow diplomatic gesture", a state-run daily said on Tuesday.
Ahead of Thursday's meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari, India on Thursday said it was sure that Pakistan would not fail to take note of the Supreme Court verdict upholding the death sentence of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the 26/11 attacks.
Our strategic and national security interests should be the decisive factor in our policy-making towards Israel, the US and Iran, says B Raman.
Those in Pakistan who always preceded the possibility of talks with a 'Kashmir being the core issue' argument are now insisting that dialogue is the only way to peace, and both countries should work together to ensure all around stability and peace, says Seema Mustafa.
Calling Pakistan a 'sham democracy', disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan has said that the country's 'elites toe the American line and behave like foreign agents'.
Pakistan President and PCB Patron-in-Chief Asif Ali Zardari has announced an award of Rs 500,000 for the highest-scorers and top wicket-takers in each game of the ongoing three-match ODI series in India.
The Pakistan government has decided to file petitions in the Supreme Court seeking a review of the annulment of a new law aimed at preventing the premier's disqualification and another order on reopening graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed that the government will file a petition seeking a review of the apex court's order that struck down the Contempt of Court Act of 2012.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday summoned Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi as a witness in contempt proceedings against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and adjourned the high-profile case till March 7.
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 Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf on Wednesday got a temporary reprieve as the Supreme Court extended till August 8 the deadline for him to approach Swiss authorities to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, a case that had cost his predecessor his job
A bill aimed at making the Inter-Services Intelligence more accountable to Parliament and government has been withdrawn from the Senate by the Presidential Spokesman, who had submitted it in his private capacity, Farhatullah Babar, the spokesman of President Asif Ali Zardari, had submitted the bill to the upper house of Parliament last week.
Pakistan's parliament has passed a bill aimed at protecting top government leaders from contempt of court proceedings and countering the Supreme Court's efforts to pressure the premier to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.The Senate or upper house approved the Contempt of Court Bill of 2012 by a majority after a heated debate late on Wednesday night. The bill was passed by the National Assembly or lower house of parliament on Monday.
Pakistan's embattled Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday appeared before the Supreme Court to face a contempt notice for not reopening graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari, saying he was unable to act as the president enjoyed complete immunity under the Constitution.
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