Pakistan's ruling coalition on Thursday rejected President Pervez Musharraf's call for reconciliation and announced that a chargesheet for his impeachment will be finalised on Friday, but apparently faced differences among allies on giving a "safe passage" to him.
Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said he felt a little "insulted and humiliated" standing before a judge in a Karachi court, where he appeared to seek extension of his pre-arrest bail in a series of cases.
US President George W Bush plans to announce a "substantial discount" on the $5 billion deal to sell F-16s to Pakistan during President Pervez Musharraf's visit to Washington.
"Why would I be informing her about all these intelligence reports that we have against her, the threat to her? Why would I be doing that? I can't prove it legally, I can't prove my innocence legally. But I can prove it only through what I stand for as a person," he said.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday finalised the order to revoke emergency on December 15, prior to which the Constitution will be amended to ensure that the decisions he has taken since November 3 are not questioned in courts.
The United States has welcomed President Pervez Musharraf's decision to lift emergency rule on December 16, calling it a positive and significant step to steer Pakistan back towards democracy. "It's a positive and significant step. We look forward to the elections taking place in early January," US State department spokesman Sean McCormack said in his briefing.
"He maligned Pakistan, brought bad name and I have no sympathies with him. I admit that he gave Pakistan valuable technology for nuclear deterrence but he had no right to disgrace his country," he said.
Bhutto wanted prime ministers to have a third term. Musharraf rejected the condition.
The foreign ministers had met recently in Israel, sparking off protests in Pakistan.
A bomb exploded near the official residence of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, killing at least six people and leaving several injured.
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran met President Musharraf and briefed him on the outcome of the talks.
"People in India and Pakistan have come to a situation where they want peace, and military solution is no longer possible," Musharraf told reporters in Abu Dhabi at the conclusion of his two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.
Acknowledging that she has met secretly with President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said that the power sharing deal with the general is not possible unless he takes concrete steps towards democracy.
A division bench of the Sindh High Court here headed by Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani issued the order against Musharraf for not appearing before it in connection with a petition filed by Maulvi Iqbal Haider of the Awami Himayat Tehreek seeking action against him for "disfiguring" the constitution and committing "high treason".
Musharraf was late in arriving at the court by over half an hour, and his lawyer attributed the delay to security concerns.
Musharraf survived two attempts on his life in December 2003 in Rawalpindi. He narrowly survived the second assassination bid which killed at least 16 people, a majority of them policemen.
Conspicuously absent from his lecture were his oft repeated references of the past about the need for involvement of US and other powers to resolve the issue.
"Musharraf should decide if he wants to be the 'operational' head of the army or the democratic President," McKinnon said a day before the opening of a Commonwealth Finance ministers' meeting in Colombo.
Musharraf told a public meeting that strict action would taken against anti-state elements.
Singh, who arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday evening on a three-day visit met Musharraf before meeting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri.
Musharraf, who suspended Chaudhry in March for alleged misconduct and misuse of power, said he did nothing wrong and that he was a great supporter of an independent judiciary.
Pressing for Musharraf's ouster, Mohammad Hasham Babar, the secretary general of the party which is a part of the Pakistan People's Party-led ruling coalition, said the president has destroyed almost all the institutions in the country, including the judiciary, during his dictatorship. He has to go out. We do not want him. Whether he goes out of the country or he is prosecuted in the country, there are only two options," Babar told PTI in Delhi.
Musharraf had promised that he will relinquish the army chief post by the end of 2004. Now he says he will continue.
Ferozeshah Kotla cricket ground, the venue of the April 17 Indo-Pak one-day cricket match to be watched by Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was swarming with police personnel on Friday.
Beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday summoned Pakistan's National Assembly, lower house of Parliament, on August 11 during which the ruling coalition is likely to bring forward an impeachment motion against him. Musharraf signed a summary convening the Assembly on Monday, officials said without specifying the agenda.
Koizumi, who arrived in Islamabad from New Delhi on a two-day visit, held two-hour-long one-to-one meeting with Musharraf during which a host of issues, including Pakistan's commitment to the India-Pak peace process, figured.
This will be Singh's first meeting with the Pakistan President.
"Pakistan seeks peaceful resolution of all issues with India, including the longstanding Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Success in this endeavour would usher in a new era of peace and prosperity in South Asia."
The 69-year-old former military ruler's farmhouse was declared a sub-jail hours after an anti-terrorism court on Saturday remanded Musharraf to judicial custody for a fortnight.
President Pervez Musharraf has welcomed resumption of the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, hoping it would lead to "some fruitful and substantial" conclusion. Musharraf, who has supervised several rounds of talks with India, was given a presentation by the foreign ministry during a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Qureshi, Foreign Secretary Bashir and other senior officials, on the eve of the two-day talks to be held.
The daily described as 'even more interesting' Musharraf's remark that there was 'no separatist movement in Pakistan.
"I have decided to invite President Musharraf to come to India and watch a cricket match," he told Lok Sabha on Thursday
The president has categorically and repeatedly stated that the government was functioning successfully and noticeable progress had been achieved on many fronts, an official statement issued in Islamabad on Sunday said.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the last petition challenging President Pervez Musharraf's re-election.
