Climate change is the official agenda for the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit beginning on Wednesday, but the real focus will be on 'temperature' in Indo-Pak relations, which have always overshadowed such meetings.
Persisting ambiguity over the possibility of an Indo-Pak dialogue taking place on the sidelines of next week's SAARC summit in Bhutan, has once again hijacked attention from broader and more complex issues involving this nearly 25-year-old regional grouping.
President Asif Ali Zardari signed into law a landmark constitutional amendment bill on Monday that will strip him of his sweeping powers, saying it would help prevent the emergence of dictatorships in Pakistan.
After some plain speaking by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, US President Barack Obama has leaned on Pakistan to rein in the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Singh, who met Obama in Washington on Sunday night, emphasised that Pakistan needed to take "convincing action" against those responsible for Mumbai attacks.
President Asif Ali Zardari enjoys full immunity from prosecution in criminal cases in Pakistan and abroad, one of the country's top lawyers said on Wednesday ahead of a crucial hearing in the Supreme Court on the issue of reopening graft cases against the president.
As confrontation mounted between the Pakistan government and the army on the one side, and the judiciary on the other, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif said holding immediate polls was the only was out of the crisis.
Pakistan's ruling coalition leaders have decided to call an urgent session of parliament on Thursday in the wake of a warning from the Supreme Court that action could be taken against the president and prime minister for failing to reopen high-profile corruption cases.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party has decided to hold the general election and the polls to the Senate ahead of schedule against the backdrop of rampant speculation that the government may not be able to complete its tenure, according to media reports on Friday.
The Parliamentary Committee on National Security has been asked by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to conduct an inquiry into the secret memo that sought the US help to prevent a possible military takeover in Pakistan in the wake of the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May.
Zardari had reached out to Ahsan, one of Pakistan's leading lawyers and former Interior Minister, after he became embroiled in the controversy over a secret memo that sought US help to stave off a possible coup in Pakistan following the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir is set to become Pakistan's High Commissioner in India as part of the biggest reshuffle of envoys approved by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, according to a media report on Tuesday.
Asserting that Pakistan will be held responsible if there is a Mumbai-type attack, India on Monday termed "very irresponsible" the statement by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that his country cannot guarantee that such an incident will not recur.
The two leaders also agreed that bilateral trade will be conducted on Most Favoured Nation basis.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves New Delhi on Wednesday on a 4-day visit to Maldives to attend the SAARC Summit on the margins of which he will meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be meeting his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit to be held in the Maldives next week.
Pakistan will soon decide when and where to present the proof of India's alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in the country, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday.
Terrorists targeted Pakistan's powerful Inter State Intelligence for the second time in less than a month on Tuesday, as suicide bombers struck its office in eastern Multan city detonating their vehicle packed with up to 1,000 kg of explosives, killing at least 12 people and injuring 47 others.
Seeking resumption of composite dialogue, Pakistan has said that India must "act responsibly" and stop being negative or it too will lose interest in taking the peace process forward.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is under tremendous pressure from different quarters to step down, which probably is the reason why he handed over the 'nuclear button' to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, but analysts believe Zardari has tightened his clutch on the presidency for the time being.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is committed to shed some constitutional powers well before March 30, the deadline he set for materializing his plan, well-placed official sources have said.
In an interview with Outlook magazine, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in an apparent volte-face, said Pakistan actually never handed any dossier to India during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the NAM summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh in July.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has once again said that Islamabad would continue its support to the Kashmiri people and the government's decision to give autonomy to Gilgit Baltistan does not mean that it has shelved the Kashmir issue."We gave internal autonomy, sovereignty to Gilgit Baltistan which was a long standing demand of its people but this does not mean that we have forgotten Kashmir issue. We will continue to give moral and diplomatic support," he said.
Validating New Delhi's fears that Islamabad was using US security aid to beef up its military against it, the Obama administration has accused Pakistan of illegally modifying the Harpoon anti-ship missile and maritime surveillance aircraft P-3C for land attacks for potential use against India.
The Pakistani Air Force has started the production of pilot-less drones, days after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani pressed the United States to transfer the sensitive technology for a more potent type, which is used by the American military to target the Taliban.According to details issued by the PAF, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra has commenced the production of pilot-less planes Falco Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has said that Islamabad should not beg New Delhi for talks."We should tell India that if they are not ready for talks then Pakistan is also not eager to enter any talk process," Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the House in categorical words.Chaudhry Nisar was referring to the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.
What was the need for the indecent hurry shown by Dr Manmohan Singh at Sharm-el-Sheikh for fresh talks with Pakistan? If we had waited for a few months more till a clearer picture emerged from the proceedings of the anti-terrorism court, would the heavens have fallen on our heads, asks B Raman
Pakistan on Thursday did not confirm or deny reports that it handed over a dossier to New Delhi on the alleged Indian involvement in the unrest in Balochistan, saying the issue involved intelligence matters which cannot be discussed in public. Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the matter had been adequately covered by the joint statement issued after the meeting between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday appealed to the people from all walks of life to play their role in maintaining peace and security in Karachi.
Prime Minister Mamohan Singh on Friday defended the stance taken by the Indian government, in the joint statement issued with Pakistan, after his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Yosuf Raza Gilani at the sidelines of the Non-Aligned summit in Egypt.Dr Singh said that he had discussed the terror attack on Mumbai with Gilani, and stressed that sustained, effective and credible action needs to be taken by Pakistan to prevent terror activities on its soil.
Preparing the ground for the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Egypt, Islamabad has handed over a fresh dossier on its probe into the Mumbai terror attacks to New Delhi which is figuring out what it amounts to.
Against the backdrop of industrialised nations (G-8) putting curbs on full nuclear cooperation with countries like India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves for Paris on Monday hoping that the visit would help India and France "build" its strategic partnership in nuclear energy, defence and other areas.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt on July 16, the Pakistan Foreign Office has said.Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said that the foreign secretaries of both countries would also meet during the summit.
The China-Pakistan partnership serves the interests of both partners by presenting India with a potential two-front theatre in the event of war with either country says Harsh V Pant.
United States Senator John Kerry, on a mission to Pakistan to ease tensions in the wake of the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, has been told by Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that the unilateral action had generated 'intense feelings' among his soldiers.
Members of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed and militants from South Waziristan tribal region are fighting alongside some 5,000 Taliban fighters in Pakistan's restive Swat valley, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said on Friday.
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.
Sharif told a television news channel in an interview on Thursday that Zardari, whom he has blamed for influencing the apex court's verdict, would not be able to complete his term. He did not give details.
Sharif, who has urged the masses to defy a government clampdown and join a nationwide protest, said the "chances of army takeover is absolutely nil".
Pakistan's report on its probe into the dossier provided by India into the Mumbai terror attacks was on Monday examined in Islamabad, by a top level cabinet committee, headed by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, before being handed over to New Delhi.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was less than well disposed towards India, was stripped of his portfolio as foreign minister in the reconstitution of the Pakistan federal cabinet following which he refused to take oath.
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