Warning that Pakistan's desire for peace should not be seen as 'a sign of weakness', President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said the country's armed forces are ready to tackle all challenges and 'external and internal' threats."Pakistan is a peace-loving nation. We believe in peace with honour. However, our desire for peace must not be taken as a sign of weakness," he said in his address at a passing out parade at the naval academy in Karachi.
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.
President Asif Ali Zardari's resident 'pir' or Sufi master has said he will conduct a special "meditation session" to ward off evils spoken about by another 'pir', who contended that there would be a change of government in Pakistan in November.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia next week, according to a source in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.However, the Prime Minister's Office refused to confirm or deny the news.Dr Singh is scheduled to visit Yaketenaburg, an industrial town in Russia, on June 15-16 to attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China summit.
Pakistan's powerful Army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani told a top American diplomat that his establishment wanted the resumption of back channel talks with India, but President Asif Ali Zardari was against it, according to a secret United States cable leaked by WikiLeaks.
Pakistan Peoples Party chief Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif on Friday failed to break the deadlock over modalities for impeaching Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and reinstating deposed judges.
Acknowledging that the peace process has been under strain in recent months, India and Pakistan on Wednesday announced that cross-Line of Control trade in Jammu and Kashmir will commence on October 21 and vowed to take severe action against any elements directing or involved in terrorist acts, giving fresh momentum for an "an early and full normalisation of bilateral relations".
A week after the covert United States raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, President Asif Ali Zardari sought to reach out to the Obama administration to ask it to stop army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani from staging a coup, a Pakistan-American businessman has said.
The US has put tons of pressure on Pakistan to release Raymond Davis under the cover of diplomatic immunity but it is difficult for the president Asif Ali Zardari to solve the case in a way acceptable both to the American and Pakistani masses. While Zardari cannot put aside Obama's request but at the same time an Egypt-like situation could occur in Pakistan if Davis is released.
Jailed ex-Pakistan premier Imran Khan's party-backed independent candidates on Friday sprang a surprise by winning 86 seats out of the 201 results declared following unusual delays and allegations of rigging, as the country appeared heading towards a hung assembly.
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
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to visit religious places in Pakistan, a move that could be of political significance for the two countries. Officials are considering a visit by Dr Singh to Pakistan in November, mirroring Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's Ajmer Sharif pilgrimage.
A thick security blanket involving hundreds of policemen besides snipers and commandos would be put in place for the visit of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in Ajmer on April 8.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday began a key meeting in Tehran, amid clear indications that terrorism will be the prime focus of the Indian side.
Jaishankar said: "Our expectation levels with the Pakistanis are never very high."
"The withdrawal of Pakistani troops is possible provided India also agrees. It will not be a unilateral decision," he said while addressing a convention of workers of his Pakistan People's Party in Okara district, 100 km from Lahore, on Friday.
A dispute over who would perform 'Ziyarat' (prayer) for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his delegation members in the Ajmer dargah on Sunday at the shrine of the Sufi saint Khwaja Moninuddin Chisti was resolved on Saturday night with a decision that two Khadims (clerics) will do the job.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk reminded Attorney General Irfan Qadir that former Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani had been convicted for contempt and sentenced for refusing to act on the apex court's orders to revive the corruption cases.
Pakistan's supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry constituted a 17-judge bench on Thursday, to hear petitions challenging the amnesty granted to President Asif Ali Zardari and close aides under a controversial law that expired last month.
Amid controversy over Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's dual office, the Lahore high Court on Wednesday issued a notice to him to explain by September 14 why he had not followed its direction to relinquish the political post of co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan People's Party.
Pakistan's election commission has formed a high-level committee to probe the explosive allegations levelled by a senior bureaucrat that widespread rigging aided by the judiciary and the top election body happened against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has said that Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani was the official who asked him to deliver a secret memorandum on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari seeking help from the Obama administration to prevent a possible military takeover.
Pakistan government gave clearance to the country's senior men's team to travel to India for the 2023 World Cup, ending months of uncertainty over their participation in the showpiece.
Fate of Pakistan's civilian government remained unclear on Friday in the midst of its standoff with the powerful military and the Supreme Court which is expected to give a ruling on Monday that could determine the outcome of the current political crisis.
A Pakistani court has issued notices to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and many other politicians in response to a petition seeking the disclosure of their assets abroad.
Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh made the hoax calls to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani after last year's terror attacks on Mumbai, investigators have told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.
From the lip-smacking Jaitooni Murg Seekh and Gosht Barra Kebab to the crispy Bhindi Kurjuri and the rich Phirni, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his entourage were treated to the best of Indian four-course meal by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday
Look for or try for a little more goodwill, a little less venom, writes senior analyst B Raman in a open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the eve of Pakistan President Asif Zardari's visit to India
The PML-N, however, rejected the demand and claimed that it was winning Thursday's elections.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is set to hold separate bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and Russia's Sergey Lavrov at a beach resort in Goa on Thursday on the sidelines of a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) amid rapidly evolving regional security situation.
The main opposition Pakistan People's Party today decided to boycott next week's presidential election, saying it was left with no other option after the Supreme Court ordered the advancing of the poll.
Reacting to media reports on the issue, Pakistan High Commission issued a brief statement terming them as "speculative" and said the "arrangements are in hand" to make the donation as announced.
Rediff.com's Amir Mir analyses the controversial developments post the explosive Memogate scandal that rocked Pakistan and reveals President Asif Ali Zardari's resolve to take on forces that are out to topple him
President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to ink an agreement on the $7.6 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project with the Turkmen and Afghan heads of state at Ashgabat on December 11.
With former prime minister Imran Khan in jail, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is tipped to emerge as the single largest party in the elections.
At least five Chinese nationals were among the six persons killed on Tuesday when an explosive-packed vehicle rammed into their bus in Pakistan's troubled northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, officials said.
Dr Manmohan Singh is the woolly-headed idealist ready to make any sacrifice to woo Pakistan quite unmindful of its inimical mindset vis a vis India, feels former Deputy National Security Adviser Satish Chandra.
After news about the demise of Pakistan's former president General Pervez Musharraf was confirmed, the country's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday changed his Twitter profile picture to a photograph of his mother Benazir Bhutto and the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, in whose murder the former military ruler was named.
There was no progress in the formation of a new coalition government in Pakistan on Tuesday as top leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) failed to agree on a power-sharing deal in their latest round of talks, indicating deepening fissures in the country's political landscape.
