Scores of churches and homes belonging to Christians in Jaranwala tehsil of Faisalabad district, some 130 km from the provincial capital, were burnt down on Wednesday by a mob enraged over reports that two Christians had desecrated the Quran.
Pakistan People's Party parliamentarians on Wednesday backed party chief Asif Ali Zardari for the post of President but he said a decision would be made only after consulting all members of the ruling coalition.
Kharge accused PM Modi of inciting people over the issues "that the Congress will never do".
Bhutto's return after the Presidential election, expected to take place before October 15, adds to the political turmoil in Pakistan.
As the Queen star found herself in the middle of a row, with the BJP distancing itself and the Congress attacking it, here's a look at some of the controversies, political and otherwise.
On his joining politics, he had said, "We will see, I don't know. I would like to help the people of Pakistan, so I will decide when I finish my studies." "I can either enter politics, or I can enter another career that would benefit the people," Bilawal said when he was 15.
'We want to ensure that no government in J&K will be formed without our support.'
Pakistan's main opposition parties Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan People's Party on Tuesday jointly mustered a simple majority in the new Parliament, local TVchannels said.
According to the sources in the ruling Pakistan People's Party, Gilani is quite perturbed over the prevailing situation wherein his whole political career is at stake due to the prevailing political and constitutional mess.
Pakistan's mighty military establishment and a defiant judiciary seems to have joined hands to give a tough time to a fragile Pakistan People's Party government at a critical time -- just before the election of the new prime minister following the disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gilani by the supreme court on contempt charges. Amir Mir reports.
Buoyed by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party's strong performance in elections to the upper house of parliament, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Saturday dismissed speculations about an early general election and the installation of a caretaker regime. "Now there will be no caretaker or chair-taker. The prime minister will not go up, inside or outside. He will stay right here," Gilani said.
'That is not a democratic ideal obviously, but it is a practical reality.' 'It is a consistent feature of politicians in Pakistan that their rhetoric on the army softens the closer they get to the seat of power.'
The Pakistan Peoples Party chief, who is in self-imposed exile, kept her hopes alive on reaching an agreement with Musharraf despite breakdown in talks, saying the "window is not totally shut."
A policeman was also injured in the gunfight that broke out in Bajaad village in the Gandoh area around 9:50 am.
It seems that the West is sending a signal to India that it can return to old hostilities unless India toes their line on Russia. It is no surprise that India is being compared with Putin's Russia in terms of targeting 'dissidents' as the West calls these Khalistani terrorists, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz with 64 and former president Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party with 43 seats are placed at number two and three respectively, the Election Commission of Pakistan said.
Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf is planning to attack Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry again with the active support of Benazir Bhutto and covert support of the United States. High level meetings are going on in Islamabad in the last two days to chalk out a new strategy against Justice Chaudhry who is becoming a real threat to the Musharraf-Benazir understanding by puncturing the presidential ordinance through which PPP leaders were granted amnesty.
Confusion persists over which wing of the Pakistan government is currently controlling the powerful ISI agency, which is at the centre of a controversy after being linked by US intelligence agencies to the suicide bombings on the Indian embassy in Kabul.
Amir Mir wonders if the jehadi penetration of the Pakistani armed forces is deeper than feared.
The Pak PM reiterated his government's firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.
"We should not have a repeat of what happened in Mumbai. That there was a terror attack and there was no response," Jaishankar told reporters in Mumbai.
"The new districts, namely Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang, will take the benefits meant for the people to their doorsteps by bolstering governance in every nook and cranny," he said.
Undeterred by the government's ban on public meetings under emergency rule, former premier Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party on Wednesday vowed to go ahead with a planned rally in the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday.
Senior Pakistan People's Party leader Syed Talib Husain Shah was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Gujrat district of Punjab province, police officials said on Wednesday.
On the Opposition's poll promise of statehood restoration, Shah said, "I want to ask Farooq Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi, who is going to restore the statehood. You cannot give it back. Why are you misleading the public?"
It said two of the key accused were Islamic State of Iraq and Syria radicals, who used fraudulently obtained "Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts" besides "various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the dark web (which is accessible only through specialised browsers) in carrying out their nefarious activities.
Karachi and Sindh are not Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf territory; traditionally, the city and the province where it is located are Pakistan Peoples Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement strongholds, which makes the turnout at Imran's rally interesting.
The Opposition PPP on Thursday alleged that the PTI-led government was planning an assault on the Sindh House in the federal capital.
The disputed region witnessed clashes on Saturday between the police and activists of a rights movement, leaving at least one police official dead and injuring over 100 people, mostly policemen.
Despite being lodged in prison, Bishnoi has allegedly managed to execute murders of many high-profile people, including Punjabi singer Siddhu Moosewala in 2022, Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi in 2023, besides orchestrating firing outside the residences of singers A P Dhillon and Gippy Garewal in Canada, the officer said.
Clad in a black traditional sherwani, Gillani, the country's 25th prime minister and the first premier from the Pakistan People's Party who is not a member of the Bhutto family, was administered the oath by Musharraf in the central hall of the Aiwan-e-Sadr or presidency in Islamabad. The ceremony was delayed by almost an hour as Gillani had gone to Karachi on Monday to attend the wedding of his son and had to rush back to the federal capital on Tuesday.
Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has reportedly decided to move an impeachment motion against President Pervez Musharraf immediately on his return from Saudi Arabia, a move that will force the President to quit rather than be thrown out.Local daily, The News, quoted sources as saying that the decision was conveyed by Zardari to all relevant foreign players, including the Saudis. Zardari had issued instructions to party leaders to start work.
'The dominance of her party also meant that the institutions became lopsided -- whether it was the bureaucracy or the courts or the military.' 'She centralised power to the extent that you would see her representatives or her party office bearers having overly represented in these institutions.' 'That perhaps would have been the biggest blunder that she committed.'
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said the option of an early general election "is open" but political elements wanting polls ahead of schedule would have to take up the issue with him after the budget session of Parliament in May.
'Nitish may take such a decision because he was the first person who was with the INDIA front.' 'He went back only because he did not get proper encouragement from the Congress.' 'Nitish will take a decision provided there is a strong alternative.' 'If he feels ours is a weak coalition, he will not come.' 'Then, this government will continue for five years.'
The party, political observers said, seems as an effort to set up a front which is acceptable to moderate Pakistanis.
'In the interim, India will be confronted with anti-India feeling because Sheikh Hasina had India's support.' 'We will have to deal with it, but it will not be a permanent phenomenon.' 'There is substantial goodwill towards India which will stand us in good stead.'
The ruling Pakistan People's Party has condemned an internet rumour that its chief, President Asif Ali Zardari, has secretly remarried three years after the assassination of his wife Benazir Bhutto, describing it as a 'vicious and unethical tirade'.
Maxwell has starred with bat and ball in Australia's white ball teams since coming back from his broken leg last year.
Raising concern over the nearly 1.25 crore feedback submissions received by the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey has called for a probe into their sources, including in the possible role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and China.
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