Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday called off a planned visit to Russia to attend a summit after the Supreme Court's disqualification of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani plunged Pakistan into a political crisis.
The ruling by Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to disqualify Yousaf Raza Gilani as prime minister has sent the Asif Ali Zardari-led Pakistan People's Party government into a deep political crisis. Amir Mir reports from Islamabad
The Pakistan government's top law officer told the supreme court on Monday it had no role to play in the disqualification of the Prime Minister, which could be decided only by the National Assembly speaker or the election commission.
While hearing the petitions filed against the National Assembly Speaker's ruling in the contempt case against Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said that a "convicted person is representing a population of 180 million people". "A prime minister does not only represent a party, but is also a country's representative," The Express Tribune quoted Justice Chaudhry as saying.
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
Pakistan wants to resolve all outstanding issues with India, including Kashmir, through dialogue as war is not the solution to any problem, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said. \\n\\n"We do not want to resolve any problems through war. The solution of all problems is dialogue and we believe in dialogue," Gilani said while addressing a public meeting at Shakargarh in Punjab province.
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Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday said no decision had been taken on the proposal to transfer Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday expressed his "strong desire" to build "further momentum" to carry forward relations with India in a constructive manner. Gilani made the remarks when Pakistan's High Commissioner-designate to India, Salman Bashir, called on him before his departure to New Delhi to assume his new assignment.
As a fresh confrontation appeared imminent between Pakistan People's Party government and the judiciary, former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has warned that this time the ruling party will not take any "unconstitutional" move by the Supreme Court against his successor "lying down".
The recent outbreak of violence in Mumbai had its echo in the Lok Sabha on Monday with Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party members storming the Well, protesting the "total failure" of the Maharashtra government to check it. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete condemned the incidents of "fanatic youths" attacking the police and the media and even damaging a martyrs' memorial in Azad Maidan.
Two persons were killed and 45 policemen injured in the violence that erupted after a rally organised by city-based Raza Academy in the afternoon at Azad Maidan in South Mumbai turned unruly, with the mob damaging buses, hurling stones and setting vehicles on fire
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.
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".
Despite the supreme court's orders and pressure from opposition parties, the government has been reluctant to write to Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against the Pakistan president. Tahir Ali reports from Islamabad
'By convention, the prime minister is technically kept in the loop for the DG, ISI's appointment.' 'It remains to be seen if Prime Minister Imran Khan is able to indicate any preference by then,' says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Observers said the victory was significant as it came in the wake of the former premier's conviction and disqualification by the apex court for refusing to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari as well as growing disenchantment with the PPP-led government at the centre following widespread allegations of corruption.
Photos from the Super Eight match between Australia and Pakistan being played in Colombo on Tuesday.
Pakistan's former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said the Speaker and parliament had endorsed his stance by not disqualifying him even after his conviction by the Supreme Court and he had thus emerged as the 'ultimate winner' in the standoff between the executive and the judiciary.
With apex court shows no sign of backing down and the government planning to clip the wings of the judiciary another clash between the two is inevitable, says Amir Mir.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's popularity has dipped to an abysmally low, lower than his predecessor Pervez Musharraf, while cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan has the highest popularity ratings in the country.
A special aircraft carrying Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and several federal ministers made an emergency landing on Tuesday shortly after taking off from a military airbase in the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi. The aircraft, which was going to Sukkur in Sindh province, returned to Chaklala airbase shortly after take-off and made an emergency landing as it had developed technical problems, TV news channels quoted officials as saying.
Pakistan's new Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf retained most key members of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's cabinet in the same positions as he allocated portfolios among his council of ministers.
There is a growing feeling within that country that these might provide a fresh start by bringing a new, and perhaps less corrupt and more responsive, government to power, says Seema Mustafa
A last minute drama on Thursday marked the selection of Pakistan's new prime minister as the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party choice Makhdoom Shahbuddin was issued a non-bailable warrant by an anti-drug court as he was filing his nomination, virtually ending his prospects.
The people of Pakistan will never permit the undermining of legislature on different pretexts, President Asif Ali Zardari has said, contending that the era of 'packing the parliament through back door' was over.
A special session of Pakistan Parliament will be convened on Friday to elect a new premier following Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's disqualification by the supreme court.
Alkazi, who was the longest serving director of the National School of Drama and mentored generations of actors, produced plays such as Girish Karnad's Tughlaq and Dharamvir Bharati's Andha Yug.
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.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said all state institutions, including the judiciary and army, should work within their constitutional limits as tensions continued between the civilian government and the powerful military over the Memogate scandal.
Prime Minister Manmohon Singh with his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo on Saturday
Virtually rejecting the Pakistan Supreme Court's directive to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said he would rather go to jail for committing contempt of court than violate the Constitution.
Rehman Malik has been appointed as an advisor on interior affairs to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, a day after Pakistan Supreme Court suspended former interior minister's membership of Parliament on the grounds of dual nationality.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Monday said he would go ahead with his protest march on Tuesday against the August 11 violence even though the police have denied permission for it.
Terming November's North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers as an infringement of the country's territorial integrity, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday underlined his government's resolve to defend the national frontiers.
The police on Sunday arrested 23 people in connection with the violence in Mumbai on Saturday, in which two people were killed and 55 people, including 46 policemen, were injured. Besides the 23 people, who were booked under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, the organisers, Raza Academy and Madina Tul Ilm Foundation, also faced similar charges, said the police.
In a reprieve for Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan parliament's speaker on Thursday ruled out his disqualification in the wake of his conviction for contempt by the supreme court for refusing to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
With NATO nations firming up their exit path from Afghanistan, the president of the war-torn country, Hamid Karzai, sought "constructive cooperation" from Pakistan for holding talks with the Taliban and to deny safe havens to militants on the border.
The expectations of both Pakistan and NATO have not been "fully fulfilled" at the alliance's summit in Chicago, Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday summoned Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi as a witness in contempt proceedings against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and adjourned the high-profile case till March 7.
