Upholding principles was a luxury when there were charismatic leaders capable of winning elections without stooping low to indulge in identity politics, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Sunday alleged that the Congress-led United Democratic Front Opposition was hatching a conspiracy to create violence during the coming assembly polls and the death of five Indian Union Muslim League activists engaged in making bombs was an indication of that.
Pakistan's late military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's son has served a legal notice on a banker, who is at the centre of a scandal over the funding of politicians by the Inter-Services Intelligence in 1990, for claiming that he gave millions of rupees to his family.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Friday held talks with leaders from various political parties in Pakistan, including Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz's Shahbaz Sharif to whom he presented a 'chaddar' to be placed on the revered shrine of Data Darbar which was attacked by terrorists recently.A delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaders led by Overseas Pakistan Affairs Minister Farooq Sattar met Krishna on Friday morning.
Senior Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz leader Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday claimed there was 'concrete' proof of India's alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in Pakistan's Balochistan province and tribal areas. Sharif, the brother of former premier and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, claimed India is involved in disrupting peace in tribal regions like Balochistan and Waziristan. "There is concrete information that India has a dirty role in destabilising Balochistan," he said.
Pakistan's opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday gave the beleaguered government a 72-hour ultimatum to act on several demands, including rollback of a fuel price hike and probe into corruption scandals, failing which the Pakistan People's Party could be booted out from the Punjab government. Sharif, chief of the country's main opposition party the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, did not link the demands to support for the PPP-led government at the centre.
As clamours for his resignation mounted with withdrawal of support from his key ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan's beleaguered Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday reached out to the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam in desperate attempts to shore up his government.
Pakistan's Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Monday said the government can consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India following the destruction of standing crops due to massive floods, three years after Islamabad downgraded trade ties with New Delhi over the Kashmir issue.
In an interview to ABC News, Musharraf called Sharif 'abrasive' and 'confrontational'.
Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif has said that prosecuting former president General Pervez Musharraf under high treason charges, for taking 'extrajudicial' actions on November 3, 2007, would help resolve the current crisis facing the country.Interacting with party workers at his Raiwind residence, Sharif said trying Musharraf would ensure that the door to military interference in the country's politics would be closed for good.
But it is less adventurous. It seems, at last, that in its eighth decade, Pakistan has settled into being a parliamentary democracy just like Bangladesh has and like we have always been, observes Aakar Patel.
Shahzain Bugti, leader of the Balauch Jamhoori Watan party, has charged the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government at the centre of "inaction" in not registering cases against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for allegedly murdering his grandfather Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif on Saturday vowed to make Pakistan an economic power and usher in a revolution if his Pakistan Muslim League party is voted to power in the next general election. "My team will bring about a revolution in Pakistan," he said while addressing a rally at Gujranwala in Punjab province that was attended by thousands of his supporters. He contended that the PML-N would come to power again to serve the people and to make the country an economic force.
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf believes that he os the panacea for Pakistan if it were to be saved from being a failed state, thanks to the 'inept and pathetic performance' by President Asif Ali Zardari led civilian government in Islamabad.Musharraf said that at the time he left office, the poverty rate in Pakistan, according to World Bank figures, had been halved, from 34 percent to 17 percent. "Which government has done this?" he asked.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party's efforts to finalise a constitutional reforms package suffered a major setback after it failed to achieve consensus with the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on the procedure for appointing judges and on renaming the North West Frontier Province.
Opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha on Monday filed his nomination papers for the July 18 election, with a host of leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav and Farooq Abdullah accompanying him.
Moitra's counsel mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde.
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf onannounced his much-anticipated return to mainstream politics with an apology for the 'political mistakes' of the last years of his regime and promised to start his career with a 'clean slate.'
Main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said the Kashmir issue and differences over the sharing of river waters must be discussed during the February 25 talks between foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan.
In Sialkot, people found five empty ballot boxes near Kashmir Park in the Cantonment area, the report said.
The strained relations between Pakistan and India could seriously affect efforts in the war against terror, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief and former premier Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday.
Police blamed activists of hard line faction of Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Muslim league headed by underground separatist leader Masrat Alam Bhat for carrying out the incidents of arson as part of a pre-planned conspiracy to disrupt Eid celebrations.
Opposition members hit out at the government for the introduction of the bill in a 'hurry' and 'without any consultation with stakeholders'.
Former Pakistan prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Nawaz Sharif was on Wednesday admitted to a London hospital after complaining of heart pain.
Stalin described his party-led coalition as the "Secular Progressive Alliance."
Mian Javed Latif said a decision on PML-N supremo and the three-time prime minister Sharif's anticipated return will be discussed with the coalition partners.
The chronology of events leading to the reinstatement of sacked Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges in Pakistan
The complainant claimed that he had received a video clip on his WhatsApp which showed a man making an 'anti-army' speech.
A much-awaited meeting between Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif concluded without any major breakthrough on Monday.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided not to contest the upcoming Punjab election on Saudi King Shah Abdullah's insistence.
The Pakistan government has received intelligence inputs about terrorist threats to the Prime Minister and other top political leaders like opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani disclosed this during an interaction with the media at Gilgit in the Northern Areas on Wednesday.
Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, has invited former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh to Pakistan to launch his controversial new book on the country's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, saying it would be a step towards promoting intellectual and people-to-people understanding.
President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law a landmark constitutional amendment bill on Monday that will strip him of his sweeping powers, saying it would help prevent the emergence of dictatorships in Pakistan.
Let us see the problem for what it actually is: Illegal Immigration plain and simple, confined to the northeast with a definite communal slant that poses a national security risk and one that needs to be dealt with firmly and promptly by stringent identification (and deportation), says Vivek Gumaste.
The All Pakistan Muslim League has served a legal notice of $5 million to a British newspaper over allegations it levelled against the political party and its head, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League and hard-line religious parties joined a rally in Islamabad organised by a front of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah, during which speakers called for a jihad to resolve the Kashmir issue. PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Samiul Haq and representatives of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference joined the rally organised by the Tehrik Azadi-e-Kashmir.
A bench headed by CJI Bobde is likely to hear a batch of 143 petitions. The apex court had on January 9 refused to entertain a plea seeking that the CAA be declared constitutional, saying the country is going through difficult times and there is so much violence that endeavour should be for peace.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday delayed his departure for China to attend the Olympic Games opening for the second time in as many days amid crucial talks between ruling coalition allies on his fate
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, currently living in London on a self-imposed exile, will not visit Pakistan for the launch of his All Pakistan Muslim League party in September as decided earlier, according to a media report on Monday.
Abbasi will be sworn-in in later at a special ceremony at the President's House.
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