Pakistan allowed the US to conduct limited operations in its territory against Al Qaeda and Taliban militants during the reign of former president Pervez Musharraf, ex-foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said. "Pakistan had allowed the US to conduct limited operations," Kasuri, a close confidant of Musharraf, told Geo News channel in an interview.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said he had accepted an invitation to visit Pakistan, but did not say when he would travel there.
Pakistani authorities on Sunday claimed that two women were killed and seven other persons were injured in "unprovoked" shelling by the Indian Army across the LoC.
Only one soldier has "minor injuries" from stepping on a mine once he was back on the Indian side of the Line of Control, said army sources.
India has conveyed to Pakistan its "strong concern" on the grant of bail to key 26/11 Mumbai attack handler Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, saying the release will make a mockery of Pakistan's commitment to fight terror groups without hesitation and without making distinctions.
India will be playing in the upcoming ODI series, in which Pakistan, South Africa and Ireland will be the other teams.
Four women were condemned to death by a tribal jirga or council for dancing and singing with men at a wedding in northern Pakistan have been killed, TV news channels in Islamabad have reported.
A senior police officer was among the 12 people killed when a bomb went off near a police vehicle in Pakistan's troubled northwest on Tuesday. The bomb, believed to be hidden in a rickshaw, exploded as the police van passed through an area on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan city in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province, TV news channels quoted police sources and witnesses as saying. Over 10 others were also injured in the blast.
A video showing Azizuddin, asking the Pakistan government to meet the demands of his abductors, including the release of some Taliban cadres, was aired by the Al Arabiya TV channel on Saturday. The militants holding Azizuddin, his driver and bodyguard had demanded the release of Taliban leader Mullah Obaidullah Akhund. They have also demanded the release of five or six other Pakistani and Afghan militants held by Pakistani authorities.
Stressing on the need for resumption of bilateral talks between India and Pakistan on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said extremists could try to provoke a war between the two countries if such issues are not resolved."We've encouraged both Pakistan and India to resume dialogue and talk about everything, including Kashmir, because now the security of both countries is threatened by forces of extremism,"she said
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has died due to injuries sustained in a United States' drone attack, the state-run television reported on Sunday, though the government said there was 'no verifiable information' about his death. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief had died in the home of his father-in-law due to wounds sustained in a drone strike earlier this month, PTV quoted local sources in Aurakzai tribal region as saying.
At least 13 Pakistani soldiers and 10 tribesmen were killed in an air strike and overnight clashes with NATO and Afghan forces in a tribal region, reports have said.
According to agencies, supporters of a Shi'ite leader, who was shot earlier in the day, were protesting outside a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan town when the blast went off.
Amid the willingness shown by Ten Sports and Prasar Bharti for an out-of-court settlement on the telecast rights controversy, the channel's chief met Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Lahore on Sunday.
The father of the country's nuclear bomb had on Wednesday admitted leaking nuclear technology.
The execution of Indian national Sarabjit Singh, sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Pakistan, has not been postponed further, a presidential spokesman said on Saturday. The hanging of Sarabjit was deferred for 30 days by President Pervez Musharraf last month so that Pakistan's new government could review his case following an appeal for clemency from the Indian government.
A delegation of 17 journalists from Pakistan will be arriving in the city on Monday on a week-long visit.
Two employees of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission were injured when the vehicle they were traveling in was targeted with a roadside bomb in the country's troubled northwestern region on Tuesday. The blast occurred in Lakki Marwat district of the North West Frontier Province, officials were quoted as saying by the Geo News channel. A technician and the vehicle's driver were injured in the attack, they said. Both men sustained minor injuries.
Pakistan on Thursday said it would give India the voice samples of the "criminals" accused in the Mumbai terror attacks within 24 hours after a local court gives its go-ahead. "We want to bring the criminals behind 26/11 to justice. Action on voice samples will be taken in 24 hours after the court gives a go-ahead," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told an Indian TV channel. He was responding to reports of delays in pursuing voice samples of 26/11 accused.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said that India has so far failed to respond to Islamabad's overtures on restarting the stalled composite dialogue process. Speaking in an interview to a TV channel, Qureshi reiterated that Islamabad wants New Delhi to respond and engage in a meaningful and constructive manner."I have always welcomed a meeting, but it has to be a meaningful meeting. It has to be a dialogue which is result oriented," he said.
At least five security personnel were killed and 10 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near an army vehicle outside a Pakistan army camp in the troubled South Waziristan region on Thursday. The suicide attacker detonated his explosives just as the vehicle was leaving the army camp in Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan, at 2.30 pm. Observers said the attack could have been carried out by pro-Taliban militants in retaliation for a missile strike.
In a candid interview with news channel CNN-IBN, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has stated that the earlier Pakistan realises the perils of nurturing terrorists, the better it was for India and Afghanistan. Here are some excerpts from the interview
The MV Suez's 22-member crew, including six Indians, were on Sunday transferred to a Pakistani warship when the Egyptian merchant vessel, which was recently released by Somali pirates after payment of ransom, began taking on water in the Arabian Sea.
A Pakistani judicial commission is likely to visit India next month to interview key persons linked to the probe into the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistani authorities have rejected the demand of the United States to release an American diplomat who shot dead two youths in Lahore, saying the matter would be handled in court according to the country's laws. Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told a TV news channel on Sunday that the matter was already in court and the Punjab police were investigating the shooting incident in Lahore on Thursday. "It would not be appropriate to publicly talk on this issue," he said.
Chaudhry will hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar to review the status of bilateral ties and Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue, which is stagnant.
Amid clamour to try him for treason, former President Pervez Musharraf who has been living outside Pakistan since mid-April, has said he will return to the country only when conditions are "pleasant".
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna will be meeting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York on September 25, to apprise her about the Indian concerns over diversion of US aid by Pakistan for strengthening its defence against India, according to sources.
"Are things in control now? Had things been in control, would this have happened," he asked, adding that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would have to give answers.
Officials were quoted by TV news channels as saying that the drone fired one missile at the militant training centre located near Makeen in South Waziristan Agency, a stronghold of the militant commander Mehsud.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Musa has said he is ready to face trial in a case of alleged irregularities in the import of a large amount of the controlled drug Ephedrine. Ali Musa cut short his honeymoon in South Africa and returned to Pakistan on Saturday after being named as an accused in the case by the Anti-Narcotics Force.
Saeed was booked by the Pakistani authorities for allegedly inciting people to wage 'jihad' (holy war) against 'infidels'.
Minister of State for Information Tariq Azim told private Geo television channel that the condition was ripe for emergency and the government is seriously considering the measure, which however has not been imposed so far.
Putting the ongoing trial in the 26/11 case in Pakistan into further uncertainty, a judicial commission of that country, that was to record statements of key persons involved in Mumbai attack probe, failed to arrive on its scheduled visit to India on Thursday.
"The circumstances for India so far as export of uranium is concerned are in my view unique," Defence Minister Stephen Smith, who is currently visiting New Delhi to discuss security and defence cooperation, told ABC news channel. "Pakistan does not have the same record so far as proliferation is concerned. There have been serious expressions of concern about proliferation in the past," he said.
Pakistan team manager Intikhab Alam is confident that the year 2011 will serve as a catalyst to improve the image of Pakistan cricket.
'In 1999, Gen Musharraf sent me along with Gen Iftikhar, who was the then chief of Air Defense Command. We were fighting India at Kargil, and we were in dire need of anti-aircraft missiles. Musharraf said we could purchase the missiles from North Korea. We went to North Korea and purchased 200 missiles from them.'
Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Friday sought a signed explanation from Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani in the wake of reports that the government was planning to remove key members of the superior judiciary, deepening the rift between the two sides.
Pakistan's Election Commission on Saturday confirmed President Pervez Musharraf's re-election for a five-year term and the military ruler is expected to take oath after doffing his uniform on November 29. The new Supreme Court on Friday validated his re-election on October 6 which had been marred by an Opposition boycott and asked the Election Commission to notify the result.
Mystery surrounds the sudden departure of Pakistan's banned Test leg-spinner, Danish Kaneria and his family to India although his brother claims they have gone to perform some religious rituals. Kaneria, his wife, children and his mother flew out to India on Sunday night and are presently said to be in Kochi but speculations are rampant that the banned player might have gone to India to seek a livelihood and settle down there. "My family is in India to perform some religious rituals which will take around 10-days. Our return dates are not confirmed as yet," Kaneria told a television channel from India. His brother, Vicky Kaneria, who is in Karachi and employed with an oil campany also insisted it was a personal trip for religious purposes. But he was unwilling to speak further on the issue. Speculations have been rife over the real purpose of the visit to India as Danish Kaneria had earlier this year reportedly said he would have got more justice in India being a Hindu by faith.
