By the evening of February 18 it was clear that Pakistan People's Party, PML of Nawaz Sharif and Awami National Party have swept three provinces and the PML-Q performed well in Baluchistan.
In another strong indication how difficult it would be for the former military ruler to cling on to power, the poll found that the two main opposition parties -- the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) -- had a combined backing of an overwhelming 72 per cent.
Hamza was re-elected to the post by just three votes amidst high drama.
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.
Pakistan's top election body on Tuesday issued bailable arrest warrants for former prime minister Imran Khan and other top leaders of his party in a contempt case.
At least 22 people, including five women and two children, were killed and over 60 others injured on Tuesday when a powerful car bomb went off outside the home of a senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader in Punjab province, the latest in a wave of terror attacks in Pakistan that have claimed more than 500 lives since October.
Former Prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N said four of its leaders --- Ahsan Iqbal, Sardar Mahtab Abbasi, Rana Tanveer Hussain and Khawaja Saad Rafique -- would rejoin the PPP-led cabinet.
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.
The Pakistan prime minister will be from Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz joint secretary Siddique-ul Farooq said on Friday.
Springing a surprise, independents backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party won the lion's share of 101 seats in the National Assembly in Thursday's election.
Bhutto had earlier said that her party would contest the polls 'under protest', while Sharif has backed the All Parties Democratic Movement's decision to boycott the polls.
The Indian Sikhs were in Pakistan to to participate in the celebrations marking the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. They met Sharif, who's father hails from Jati Umra, a village near Amritsar, at his home in Lahore.
Saudi Arabia has assured Nawaz Sharif that it will take up the issue of his "exile" and "deportation" with Pakistan after Eid-ul-Fitr, the deposed premier's party has claimed.
The VIP cells of Attock jail in Punjab province were being whitewashed and new curtains and furniture put in place to house former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother.
India has also taken note of reports of Saeed's son Talha contesting elections in Pakistan and said the "mainstreaming" of radical terror outfits in the neighbouring country is nothing new and that it has been part of its State policy for a long time.
Opposition parties allege the visit was aimed at 'capping' the country's nuclear programme ahead of President Musharraf's visit to the US.
PML-N chief and former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to contest the by-election from Lahore. He will contest a seat vacated by top PML-N leader Javed Hashmi, who won from three constituencies in the last general election. Sharif last contested the election in February 1997 from his Gawalmandi constituency in Lahore. He has won from the constituency five times consecutively.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party has called Musharraf's bluff.
Sources in the PML-N told the Press Trust of India in Lahore that Nawaz Sharif decided to withdraw himself from the race for the prime minister's office for his daughter and political heir, Maryam Nawaz, 50.
"Saudi Arabia has already told Nawaz Sharif that he can go back to his country whenever he likes. We are working out the modalities so that he can return in November," said PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.
Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is set to arrive in Islamabad on Saturday after a four-year self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom, months ahead of general elections.
Asif Ali Zardari was overwhelmingly elected as the 14th President of Pakistan on Saturday, becoming the only civilian President of the coup-prone country for a second time.
Ahsan Iqbal sustained a bullet wound to his right shoulder when was attending a corner meeting in Narowal's Kanjrur Tehsil.
The complainant claimed that he had received a video clip on his WhatsApp which showed a man making an 'anti-army' speech.
There was no progress in the formation of a new coalition government in Pakistan on Tuesday as top leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) failed to agree on a power-sharing deal in their latest round of talks, indicating deepening fissures in the country's political landscape.
The ceremony was scheduled to be held on Monday, but President Alvi had refused to administer the oath to the lawmakers, compelling the government to postpone it.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Saturday allowed Hamza Shehbaz to remain as the 'trustee' Punjab province chief minister till hearing resumes on Monday, but barred him from using his powers for 'political gains' during this period.
The courts in Pakistan have been flooded with petitions as candidates, mostly backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), challenged the results of Thursday's general elections, alleging rigging.
After news about the demise of Pakistan's former president General Pervez Musharraf was confirmed, the country's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday changed his Twitter profile picture to a photograph of his mother Benazir Bhutto and the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, in whose murder the former military ruler was named.
The police also said that an initial probe has suggested that the banned terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is behind the suicide attack that injured over 100 people in Khar, the capital of Bajaur tribal district.
In Sialkot, people found five empty ballot boxes near Kashmir Park in the Cantonment area, the report said.
The meeting between the three top Opposition leaders took place at the Bilawal House in Islamabad, hours after they ousted Imran Khan as the prime minister after the cricketer-turned-politician lost the no-confidence vote in the National Assembly.
'Imran Khan's rule was dismal. Despite this, he has become a cult figure.' 'He sold the dream of a Naya Pakistan to the people of Pakistan, especially the youth, and branded all other politicians as corrupt.' 'Hence, his popularity.'
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.
Sharif in an interview had appeared to admit that terrorists sent by Pakistan were responsible for the 26/11 attacks.
Khan, who faced his toughest political test since assuming office in 2018 due to defections in his party and cracks in the ruling coalition, in a surprise announcement during an address to the nation on Sunday said he had advised the president to 'dissolve assemblies'.
India has slammed Pakistan for its decision to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and said any action to alter the status of the militarily-occupied region has no legal basis.
Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, on Monday, became the first-ever woman chief minister of a province in Pakistan when she was elected to head the Punjab province, describing it as an 'honour' for every woman in the country.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry has asked the Punjab provincial government to constitute a high-level joint investigation team (JIT) to bring facts to light in connection with an assassination attempt on former prime minister Imran Khan.
The FIA investigators under Rizwan had detected Rs 110 billion earned by the sugar mafia during the rule of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf rule through 'speculative pricing'.
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