Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has asked his countrymen to take to the streets for reinstatement of the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf.
With the 30-day deadline for restoring the judges expiring on Wednesday, senior leaders of the two parties, including Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, are trying hard to sort out their differences on modalities. Some progress was made during the talks, but there were unresolved issues, Sharif said adding, he expects the negotiations to conclude on Thursday.
The Pakistan government's coalition partners - PPP and PML-N - have 'agreed' to reinstate the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf in 2007, PPP chairman Asif Ali Zaradari said. The coalition partners had agreed to finalise modalities for restoring the judges in 30 days of assuming power. The deadline expired on Wednesday.
The Pakistan People's Party-led government is considering a proposal to seek Interpol's Red Corner notice against ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf, in a bid to bring him back from abroad to face treason charges, days after he called party chief and President Asif Ali Zardari 'a criminal and a fraud'. Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani had even hinted that it might not be possible to put Musharraf on trial, after main opposition PML-N stepped up demands for action against him.
Three new victors -- the Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Awami National Party have shown their majority many days ago, but President Pervez Musharraf is playing delaying games and using secret agencies to break the majority party PPP from the PML faction of Nawaz Sharif.
"Musharraf has become highly controversial and elections would not be free and fair under him," Sharif told a news conference after chairing a meeting of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party to chalk out its strategy for the February 18 parliamentary polls.
Pakistan's election commission on Sunday declared the final result of Thursday's general elections in which independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party got the biggest piece of the cake by winning 101 seats.
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.
Nine candidates on Wednesday filed nominations for Pakistan's presidential election, with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's India-born nominee Mamnoon Hussain emerging a clear frontrunner for the poll to be held on July 30.
Amid main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's demand that Pervez Musharraf be tried for treason, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said the fate of the former military ruler will be decided by the people and Parliament and ruled out using his powers on "frivolous issues of the past".
Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani "gave his word" on Sunday to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz that his government will not extend any help to former president Pervez Musharraf to defend himself in any court of law as they agreed to bridge the "trust deficit" between the parties.
A bill aimed at shielding top Pakistani leaders from contempt charges and curbing the apex court's efforts to push Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf into reopening graft cases against the President has been approved by the lower house of Parliament.
Pakistan plunged deeper into a political chaos on Sunday night as a defiant Nawaz Sharif joined by tens of thousands of supporters in Lahore was headed towards Islamabad for a mass sit-in front of Parliament on Monday amid reports that a Inspector General of Police of Punjab province's police and several senior officials had resigned and joined his 'long march' for the restoration of the Constitution.
Pakistan's opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shahbaz Sharif gave a slip to the police and went into hiding on Sunday, before he could be served orders for his house arrest, a party spokesman said.
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.
The Pakistan government on Thursday said former premier Nawaz Sharif along with his brother Shahbaz would be provided with VVIP-level security in view of "serious threats" to their lives, shortly after the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief accused the "high-ranking" officials of plotting to kill him.
Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of former premier Nawaz Sharif, is expected to become Pakistan's new prime minister as the coalition of leading political parties led by them is set to comfortably cross the simple majority mark to form the next government after elections produced a split mandate.
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.
The bomber blew himself up at the residence of PML-N leader Rasheed Akbar Nawani, a prominent politician of Bhakkar district and a member of the National Assembly, almost destroying his home and shaking the entire area sending his panicked neighbours and shopkeepers scurrying for safety.
Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf is seeking to step down if given indemnity for all his questionable actions under the Constitution.President Musharraf has decided to resign from his office after the lawyers' long march on June 13, where PML-N chief and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had pledged to hold him accountable at all costs. Recently, PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari revealed that the future President would hail from his party.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif is keen to visit Jammu and Kashmir to trace his ancestral roots, the former Pakistani premier told visiting People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti. Mufti, who travelled to Islamabad last week to participate in a conference, had met Sharif in Lahore on Thursday.
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.
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.
Opposition parties allege the visit was aimed at 'capping' the country's nuclear programme ahead of President Musharraf's visit to the US.
Wasim Qadir, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-backed candidate who defeated PML-N's stalwart Sheikh Rohail Asghar from Lahore's National Assembly-121 constituency, joined the PML-N after a meeting with Maryam Nawaz, daughter of the party supremo Nawaz Sharif, at her residence.
A Pakistani commission to probe how Osama bin Laden lived undetected in the garrison city of Abbottabad has run into rough weather days after its formation, with one member refusing to join the panel and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz criticising the manner of its formation.
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.
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.
A political source revealed that Naqvi assumed the role of chairman through a clear understanding between influential stakeholders and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
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.
Millions of Pakistanis will go to the polls on Saturday to vote for a landmark democratic transition of power after a bloody campaign, marred by Taliban violence that killed over 100 people, forced key parties to abandon rallies and large gatherings.
Under intense pressure from the United States and amidst escalating political standoff at home, the Pakistan government on Saturday decided to challenge the disqualification of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from contesting elections, in a move seen as an attempt to defuse the crisis.
Fresh protests broke out in Lahore on Thursday as police prevented the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz legislators from entering the Punjab assembly to hold a session after the sacking of provincial administration led by Shahbaz Sharif.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party has called Musharraf's bluff.
Taimur is the second politician in a week to become the victim of a targeted killing in Karachi, raising fears of violence as the country moves closer to general elections.
A ruling party lawmaker on Wednesday criticised Pakistan cricketers for promoting a negative image of the country by celebrating with push-ups on the field after winning a match, prompting the Pakistan Cricket Board to discontinue the practice.
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.
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader and former Punjab chief minister is accused of ordering the murder of five men in an 'engineered' police encounter in 1999.
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