Pakistan's powerful army chief has stepped in to mediate between the embattled government and the protesters seeking resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, bringing the military back into the centre stage and signaling a possible end to the high-political drama.
A tense standoff continued in Pakistan on Saturday as overnight talks between the government and protesters demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation made little headway in breaking the political logjam.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday hit back at his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, saying poverty cannot be eradicated by "driving tanks on farmlands" and once again needled India by calling Hizbul commander Burhan Wani the "valiant son of Kashmir".
A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar, gave the unanimous verdict on several identical petitions pertaining to the duration of disqualification of a politician under Article 62(1)(f) of the Pakistan Constitution, reported Samaa TV.
The deceased include 12 policemen, one paramilitary and two civilians, a police official said.
Bibi was convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting Islam in a row with her neighbours. She always maintained her innocence, but has spent most of the past eight years in solitary confinement.
Kalashnikov-wielding terrorists in police uniforms on Wednesday gunned down 47 Shia Ismaili Muslims, including 16 women, shooting them in the head as they attacked their bus in Pakistan's volatile Karachi city in the latest sectarian violence claimed by the dreaded Islamic State terror group.
Immediately after India launched its surgical strikes, sources said, it had informed the US of its action.
The apex court ordered the government to act against those propagating 'hatred, extremism and terrorism'.
Amid Pakistan Army's mediation efforts, protesters have stepped up pressure on the embattled government with cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri setting yet another deadline of 24 hours for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to quit.
'Women have 100 per cent inclusion in the health sector. They are also teaching in the education sector. They are working in each and every one of those sectors where they are required'
In a golden moment in Pakistan's chequered 66-year political history, President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday left the presidency after successfully completing his five-year term, paving the way for India-born Mamnoon Hussain to take over.
So far, almost every positive development in terms of the bilateral ties has been overtaken by innate hostility that is often driven by popular sentiments.
Shaken by the Taliban terror attack in which 148 people, including 132 school children, were killed in Peshawar on Tuesday, Pakistan has pledged to announce a "national plan" to tackle terrorism within a week with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif saying "this entire region" should be cleaned of terrorism.
Facing his toughest test since becoming Pakistan's prime minister, a defiant Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday brushed aside the demand of protesters asking him to quit saying the country has survived "difficult times" and the current political crisis too shall pass.
Opposition leader Imran Khan's political party on Monday decided to withdraw its lawmakers from the National Assembly and all provincial assemblies except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, piling pressure on beleaguered Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to quit, even as efforts by the ruling PML-N to reach out to anti-government protesters failed.
Harkatul Jihad al-Islami chief Ilyas Kashmiri, who was killed in a United States drone attack in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, had reportedly convened a meeting in North Waziristan last month to constitute a special squad that would be tasked with avenging the death of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
The court delivered the verdict after postponing it for four times in the Avenfield corruption case -- pertaining to the ownership of four flats in the posh Avenfield House in London.
The apex court gave a month-long deadline to the government to determine the responsibility for security failure in the horrific attack in which 147 people, 132 of them children, were killed when Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants stormed the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar.
A senior Taliban commander, believed to be a key planner in the Peshawar school massacre, has been killed by the security forces in Pakistan's troubled Khyber Agency.
Confrontation between Pakistan government and the opposition escalated on Wednesday with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif rejecting demands for his resignation and Imran Khan calling off the dialogue with his regime until he quits.
The court found 4 of the accused guilty and handed down the 25 year sentence.
To unidentified gunmen on Friday opened fire on the car of a prominent journalist here, leaving his driver dead and guard injured. TV anchor and editor Raza Rumi's car was fired at near Raja Market area of the city.
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.
The Pakistan army killed at least 120 suspected terrorists in the North Waziristan tribal region during the Zarb-e-Azb operation.
Hafiz Saeed-backed Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) had fielded 265 candidates -- including 13 women -- countrywide.
Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has asked the United States to target the hideouts of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorists and their chief Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's anti-government protesters had a quiet day in Islamabad's high security area where they have been camping demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation, even as opposition leader Imran Khan vowed to continue the sit-in until goals achieved.
Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid on Monday quit as the government "surrendered" to hardline religious groups, who called off their violent protests in Islamabad that had left six people dead and hundreds injured.
Pakistan called in the Army to restore order after violent clashes.
Three people were killed and seven others injured.
Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday dashed off to Afghanistan to seek extradition of Taliban leader Mullah Fazlluah, whose group claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on an army school in Peshawar, which left 141 people, mostly children, dead.
Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party chief and a two-time prime minister, was killed along with more than 20 people in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh during an election campaign rally on December 27, 2007. She was 54.
The United States identified LeT as one of the largest and most active terrorist organisations in South Asia.
Pakistani security forces foiled a major cross-border attack by militants on its check-posts near Afghanistan, killing seven militants and wounding 9, prompting the government to summon the Afghan envoy.
Pakistan police on Saturday claimed to have killed the alleged mastermind of Wagah suicide bombing -- that claimed 61 lives last year -- in an encounter, a media report said.
A young Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up outside a crowded government office in Pakistan's restive northwest killing 26.
The Supreme Court overturned the conviction, a landmark verdict on Wednesday that sparked nationwide protests, death threats from hardline groups.
Taliban militants have publicly beheaded a man for allegedly spying for the security forces in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region.
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed led Jamat-ud-Dawah has set up various new fronts and established camps all over Pakistan to collect donations and sacrificial animals in the name of helping Kashmiris in India.
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