Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that Islamabad saw India's offer of talks "positively," saying solutions to problems between the two countries cannot be found through wars.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said the US would support all efforts for the early resumption of the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan, as she responded to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's call for US meditation in resolving outstanding issues like Kashmir.
Pakistan's military operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan will be taken to its logical conclusion despite a wave of attacks by the militants as 'failure is not an option,' Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said relations between Pakistan and India cannot be improved without the resolution of the Kashmir issue, which is holding up peace in South Asia.
A get together brought about by cricket should serve to revive Indo-Pakistan dialogue so rudely shattered by the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, advocated the Pakistani media after the historic meeting of the two prime ministers at Mohali on Wednesday.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Monday made an unannounced visit to the restive Swat valley where troops are engaged in flushing out Taliban militants.A top-level review of the security situation and the repatriation of the displaced people, uprooted by insurgency, was the highlight of the visit. The visit also assumes significance with reports of the army being on the verge of wrapping up the intensive operation.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said he would hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the margins of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt with an 'open mind' as he believed any 'pause' in bilateral dialogue would benefit terrorists. "If talks were on pause, that benefited the terrorists," Gilani told reporters in Islamabad before embarking on a four-day visit to attend the NAM summit.
United States President George W Bush on Sunday appreciated Pakistan's role in the war against terrorism, as he held talks with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.During the hour-long meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Middle East in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, Bush lauded Pakistan's initiatives to curb terrorism and extremism, posing threat to the entire world. The two leaders also discussed ways and means to enhance economic cooperation.
Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha's recent visit to Qatar, home to the US Central Command's regional headquarters, has sparked speculation about an 'intelligence back channel' between Pakistan and the US to reset troubled security cooperation.
The army operation against militants in Swat and Malakand division will soon be over but Pakistan will continue to fight terrorism and take the campaign to its "logical conclusion", Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday. "The nation will soon hear the good news... soon the army operation will be over.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has warned that any move to oust the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government could imperil democracy and the election process in the country
Aiming at a "decisive" victory over the Taliban, Pakistan on Thursday pressed with air and ground operation in the north-western tribal belt, where fierce fighting killed nine soldiers and 14 militants, including a son of a hardline cleric who negotiated the Swat peace deal.
During a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Gilani expressed Pakistan's "keen desire to defuse the situation in South Asia in the wake of the Mumbai attacks". "Pakistan will complete its inquiry into the dossier of information provided by India as soon as possible and will share its results with India and other countries in due course", he said.
Pakistan is expected to reopen the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply line anytime now, as the United States has agreed to tender an apology in 'soft words' over the Salala checkpost incident, reports Tahir Ali
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today accused the world of "double standards" in dealing with the Mumbai attacks and terrorist incidents in Pakistan, saying there was no need for the international community to make "so much noise" about the strike in India's financial hub.
'Common friends' of India and Pakistan are playing their role to defuse tensions between the two countries as war is not in the interest of either nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday."War is not in the interest of any country and all issues should be resolved through dialogue," Gilani said."The peace-loving countries and the common friends of Pakistan and India are playing their role to defuse tensions between the two countries," he said.
Nearly six months after Pakistan shut North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply lines to Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said she personally believes that the routes should be reopened. Khar made the remarks while speaking to reporters, who accompanied Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on an official visit to Britain, The Express Tribune said on Monday.
With the Pakistani link being suspected in the deadly Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has called a special meeting of his Cabinet to discuss the situation arising out of this development, particularly its impact on the Indo-Pak relations.
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.
In a strong reaction to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's statement on Osama bin Laden, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday asked the country to first look within on the issue of terrorism as it had been "caught with its pants-down" in the case.
Making a policy statement in parliament, Gilani said, "As a measure of our tangible display to seek peace with our neighbours, we have decided to freeze, actually reduce, the defence budget when seen in the context of inflation and the rupee-dollar parity." Without naming India, he added: "We hope to see a reciprocal gesture from our neighbour for the sake of peace and prosperity of the region."
When asked about India's demand for extradition of Dawood Ibrahim, who New Delhi says is based in Pakistan, Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani initially refused to comment saying he had 'not studied' the matter or been briefed on it. On being pressed and asked if his government would extradite Ibrahim if the Indian government made a good case, Gilani said, that he had kept an open mind, and that the onus was on India to provide 'authentic proof' in this regard.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said his government will not amend the blasphemy law, which has been at the centre of a raging controversy since the assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer over his opposition to the statute.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is on shaky grounds, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is pro-America and Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is doing well in taking military action against terrorists in his country, a top Republican Senator said on Monday.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday defended the Pakistan government's decision to accept aid for flood victims from India, saying those opposed to the move should give reasons for their stance. "I would like to ask the critics of India's aid on what ground we should refuse it. It will be a narrow approach if we refuse aid from India," Gilani said. Pakistan on Friday accepted India's offer to provide $5 million for the victims of the devastating floods.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who has acknowledged his force is "India-centric" due to unresolved issues between the two countries, will continue playing a key role in shaping foreign policy after the three-year extension granted to him as Pakistan's Army chief. Announcing the government's decision to extend Kayani's tenure late Thursday night, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the move was necessary to ensure continuity of military leadership for ongoing operations agai
"Surely, India gave concessions to Pakistan keeping in mind a long term goal. I think Dr Singh has made a sacrifice to gain bigger things in future. We understand he has taken a risk by going against public opinion in India. Dr Singh has shown some flexibility," says Pakistan media expert Hamid Mir.
China on Tuesday denied any talks with Pakistan for building a naval base at the strategic Gwadar deep sea port, which was built with its assistance in Balochistan.
As Pakistan's armed forces on Sunday staged a massive drill in the Cholistan desert, close to the Indian border, the country's civil and military leadership said Islamabad's defence strategy is based on credible minimum deterrence and had 'no offensive design' against anyone.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai might have described Pakistan and Afghanistan as 'co-joined' twins, but experts believe that there is underlying tension simmering between both nations.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday granted a pardon and remitted two prison terms given to Interior Minister Rehman Malik hours after a Pakistani court dismissed the minister's appeal against his conviction in two corruption cases.
Pakistan said it would approach the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with India with an "open mind" in the interest of normalising bilateral relations though "the vibes emanating from the other side have not been encouraging".
Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, has ordered a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) probe into fraud allegations against three former PCB chiefs.
Pakistan has said it could focus on American demands to do more in the war on terror only if the US used its influence with India to lessen tensions and to press for resumption of the stalled composite dialogue process.
Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's lawyer on Wednesday said he feared that would not get a fair trial in the contempt case and that the government could not act on the supreme Court's orders to revive graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari as long as he was the president.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani faces the prospect of being disqualified as an member of Parliament for five years after Pakistan's supreme court ruled on Monday that he "wilfully, deliberately and persistently" defied the highest court and brought the judiciary into "ridicule".
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of Hafiz Saeed, chief of the banned organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
"We want relations with India on the basis of equality. If Pakistan and India do not enter into negotiations for the betterment of the region, then someone else would get the benefit. If there will not be bilateral talks, the terrorists will take advantage of it," The News quoted Gilani, as saying.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said the United States should offer Pakistan a civil nuclear cooperation deal similar to the one it finalised with India in order to maintain "balance" in the region.
Strategic analyst B Raman's take on the latest developments in Islamabad that have further cornered the Pakistani government.