Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the death sentences given by a military court to two men who were convicted of involvement in a suicide attack on former president Pervez Musharraf in 2003.
The two factions of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday reacted cautiously to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's proposal to demilitarise some regions of Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control and grant them automomy.
India and Pakistan have a real opportunity to take relations forward after the exit of President Pervez Musharraf, feels Adrian Levy, co-author of Deception: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy.
The US, which backed President Pervez Musharraf for aiding the 'war on terror', on Friday said the decision to impeach the embattled leader is an "internal matter" of Pakistan, but must be "consistent with the rule of law and their constitution."
Sukhpreet Kaur, wife of Sarabjit Singh, met two members of the Pakistani National Assembly in Amritsar on Tuesday and handed over a memorandum seeking Presidential pardon for her husband.
Former Pakistani Generals, including ex-army chief Mirza Aslam Beg, have criticised President Pervez Musharraf's handling of the Kashmir problem and said there could be no long-term friendship with India unless the issue is resolved.
Pak officials believe even India's `hardliners' saw the pressures on the Pakistani president and understood that he might offer the last and best chance to improve bilateral ties.
The Nation said one of the two bombers involved in the suicide attack belonged to the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed or its breakaway group Khudam-ul-Islam.
The Bush administration apparently has no problem with the new Pakistani government's peace deal with militant groups in that country's North West Frontier Province, including Waziristan that have been sympathetic and allied with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It has even given the tentative agreement its cautious blessings.
New Delhi had suggested April 14 or 15 for a meeting between the APHC and the PM, but Hurriyat Conference representatives will be reaching Delhi only on April 16.
The potential for miscalculation between India and Pakistan remains high, Director of the US Defence Intelligence Agency, Vice-Admiral Lowell E Jacoby, said.
Musharraf said Kashmir was not a complex issue and the leaderships of both the countries have to show maturity, sincerity, develop confidence and trust in each other to settle it in a "reasonable time-line"
The Pakistan government is giving finishing touches to a sweeping constitutional amendment package that will clip President Pervez Musharraf's powers and pave the way for reinstating judges sacked by him last year, an issue that has imperiled the fragile ruling coalition. The package, which will be tabled in parliament as the 18th Constitution Amendment Bill before the forthcoming budget session, would balance the powers between the President and the Prime Minister.
"What is the matter with these Commonwealth guys, why can they not trust me when I say maybe I will take off my uniform in a few days; I might remove the emergency after the elections, within a few days I intend to free the judges, lawyers, human rights activists, that I am the only true democrat in all of Pakistan," said one satirical post at thespoof.com.
A former Pakistani army chief and senior intelligence official, who was a close aide and confidant to Pervez Musharraf, has completely dismissed the much hyped proposals on Kashmir by the erstwhile President and military dictator that were widely reported as having been the closest India and Pakistan had come to a resolution of this historic imbroglio.
Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gillani on Wednesday said that the fate of President Pervez Musharraf would be decided according to the Constitution while the judges deposed by him will be reinstated in the true spirit of an agreement reached between the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in this regard.Gillani, who belongs to the PPP, called on Sharif and his brother Shahbaz at their Raiwind estate in Lahore after addressing a business meet.
Sharif's statement comes a day after Musharraf expressed his willingness to drop cases against Nawaz Sharif as well as leaders of other political parties under the National Reconciliation Ordinance. Benazir Bhutto was also offered amnesty by Pakistan.
Al Qaeda is stronger than it was earlier thanks to President Pervez Musharraf's decision in 2006 to cut a ceasefire deal with Islamic militants in the region bordering Afghanistan, US intelligence agencies said. With the Pakistani security forces staying out of the region, Al Qaeda militants were able to resettle and even re-establish some training camps in the area, says Michael Leiter, acting director of the National Counter Terrorism Center.
Sarabjit was sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan in 1990 that killed about 14 people. Pakistan's Supreme Court had rejected his mercy petition in 2006. Sarabjit's family claims he is innocent, saying he had strayed into Pakistani territory by mistake.
With pressure piling up on Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf, the former military ruler has decided in principle to quit and will announce his decision in this regard on the country's Independence Day on August 14, a media report has said.
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has said that the time has come for a "final" parleys with the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) over the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf and restoration of judges deposed during last year's emergency.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Commander of 4 Corps (Lahore) Lt Gen Mohammed Aziz and Chief of General Staff Gen Mohammed Yusuf had run a proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir in the early 1990s, a new book has claimed.
Following the 9/11 terror strikes, when the US had made up its mind to bombard Afghanistan, Pakistan''s Inter-Services Intelligence and then President Pervez Musharraf made full efforts to save the Taliban and tried to persuade a red-faced Bush administration to hold a dialogue with the Taliban, as the Inter-Services-Intelligence always regarded it as one of its strategic assets.
It was the civilian leadership that was disinclined to withdraw fearing loss of face, the former US Central Command chief has said.
The two leaders will be in NY to attend the UN General Assembly session.
A judicial magistrate has issued the arrest warrants of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the Nawab Akbar Bugti murder case.
The United States has praised Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for his role in the war on terror, but said that Islamabad had not been successful in closing down the terror network in restive tribal areas on the Afghan border.
His petition created history as he became the first Chief Justice of Pakistan who sought justice from the very court he headed.
"We have fought wars over this Line of Control. So a dispute cannot be a solution. Certainly not," he told the BBC.
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has expressed his will to get medical treatment of his choice in another country, citing the findings of his medical report which shows serious illness.
Musharraf had done much, but "not reached his full capacity" in dealing with terrorism and extremism, the US said.
Musharraf's proposals included demilitarisation, self rule and joint management of Kashmir.
The top CIA official is said to have presented Musharraf 'compelling' evidence of Al Qaeda's resurgence in Pakistan, US officials were quoted as saying.
