A four-judge bench of the Lahore high court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial issued the direction after hearing arguments by the government's lawyer, Waseem Sajjad, who argued that the court had not passed any formal order to bar Zardari from holding the two offices of President and co-chairman of the PPP.
In a live-address to the nation, 69-year-old Khan also discussed a 'threat letter' that purportedly showed 'evidence' of a foreign conspiracy to topple his coalition government.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said he was prepared to resign if the issue of approaching Swiss authorities for reopening graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari was resolved by his departure.
A draft of the proposed constitutional package to be laid before Parliament later this month indicates that several powers of the President would be massively clipped, The News reported.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai urged United States Senators to secure strong American support for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in his efforts to free his country from extremism, according to a classified US diplomatic cable released by whistleblower website Wikileaks.
Pakistan's political and military elite have been shaken by damaging disclosures about the country's foreign policy and internal politics in hundreds of secret US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, with the media screaming "WikiWreaks havoc" and "WikiLeaks bombs rock Islamabad".
The latest tranche of WikiLeaks published in the media has revealed that Zardari had made extensive preparations in case of his own assassination and instructed his son Bilawal to name his sister, Faryal Talpur, as president.
According to the latest revelations made by whistleblower website WikiLeaks, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi described Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari as 'dirty but not dangerous' and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as 'dangerous but not dirty'.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had called President Asif Ali Zardari the greatest obstacle to Pakistan's progress, according to a cache of confidential United States' diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks.The King called Zardari the greatest obstacle to Pakistan's progress, and added, "When the head is rotten, it affects the whole body."
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday underlined Pakistan's commitment for "friendly, cooperative and good" neighbourly relations with India as she met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and handed over an invitation to him from Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Pakistan's cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has claimed that President Asif Ali Zardari, chief ministers of three provinces and 61 per cent of Members of Parliament have never paid any taxes, reflecting the widespread corruption in the country. Khan alleged that Zardari and former Premier Nawaz Sharif were hand-in-glove. While Sharif had paid only Rs 5,000 as tax, Zardari had paid no tax at all, he claimed.
Controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz, a key figure in the memo scandal, on Friday claimed that President Asif Ali Zardari had advance information of the United States military raid that killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad last year.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is expected to appear in Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday to face a contempt charge but the government has no plans to reopen graft cases against the President, an aide to the premier said on Monday. "The prime minister is expected to go to the court on Tuesday. However, there is no change in the government's position -- that the cases against President Asif Ali Zardari will not be revived," the aide said.
Hina Rabbani Khar is set to become Pakistan's first woman foreign minister, with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani recommending her elevation as a full-fledged minister, ahead of the Indo-Pak Foreign Minister-level talks in July.
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.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was on Monday indicted by the Pakistan Supreme Court on contempt charges for refusing to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, a move that may force the beleaguered leader to quit. Gilani, 59, the first Pakistani prime minister to be arraigned for contempt by the apex court, pleaded not guilty in the packed court room.
A seven-judge bench led by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk issued the order on Thursday afternoon after hearing arguments from Gilani's lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who argued that the premier had not committed contempt by acting on the apex court's orders as the president had complete immunity from prosecution within Pakistan and abroad.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and the United States have reasons to be gratified by the turn of events in the country with regard to the memogate scandal. B Raman analyses
President Asif Ali Zardari has asked Pakistan's national database to use his name as the father's name in official documentation for children of unknown parentage, a top official has said. The move is an attempt to legalise the status of a large number of children who were born legally but whose parentage is unknown, National Database and Registration Authority Chairman Malik Tarek said
In what could be a prelude to a possible operation in North Waziristan against the Al Qaeda militants holed up there, Pakistani military commanders have met with the President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, a move termed by a leading daily in Islamabad as "far from routine".
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has allowed the country's military to carry out air strikes on the identified Taliban havens located in the intricate mountain terrains in Tribal Areas.
Beleaguered Pakistan government appears to be in no mood to tone down in the battle of attrition when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appears before the Supreme Court on Thursday in compliance with its direction. Gilani, who is already involved in a tussle with the powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is unlikely to offer apology to the court which has issued a contempt notice for failing to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, sources said.
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.
Hours after Pakistan Supreme Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the leaders of ruling coalition decided that he should appear in the apex court on January 19 in the matter relating to reopening of corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Amid speculation of a military takeover in Pakistan, its powerful army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has bluntly told the civilian leadership to put its house in order through measures like a crackdown on corruption and improvement in its "faltering" response to the devastating floods.
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 President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are likely to meet on the margins of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in the Iranian capital later in August. The two leaders will be in the Iranian capital between August 26 and August 31 to attend the NAM summit and they are expected to meet on the sidelines of the meet, The News daily quoted its sources as saying.
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.
"I want to make a promise to the people that the next election will be held on time and will be fair, free and impartial," Zardari told a meeting of workers of his Pakistan People's Party at Khairpur in Sindh province on Sunday
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had wanted to retain military ruler Pervez Musharraf's close aide Tariq Aziz as a key Pakistani interlocutor for India but the move was opposed by Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, a United States diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks has said.
A carefully modulated exercise is evident from the reports emanating from Beijing on the current visit of Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Kayani, says B Raman
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.
Pakistan was headed for a political crisis late Wednesday night with uncertainty surrounding Asif Ali Zardari continuing as president after the Supreme Court scrapped an Ordinance under which he and several other prominent politicians had been granted immunity from prosecution in corruption cases.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday condemned what he described as India's 'brutal' handling of protests in Jammu and Kashmir.
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.
The Pakistan government has been blamed of politicising flood relief efforts after it revealed plans to name new towns built for flood victims as 'Benazirabad,' after the former slain premier Benazir Bhutto, a report in Telegraph.co.uk stated.
Pakistan's top leadership on Sunday expressed disappointment and concern over a fresh match-fixing scandal involving some of the country's cricketers and sought a report on the issue from the cricket board.
Pakitsan President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday returned to Karachi from Dubai, where he had gone almost a fortnight ago to seek treatment for a heart condition, triggering rampant speculation that he might be on the verge of resigning.
Taking serious note of the 'spot-fixing' scandal that rocked Pakistan cricket team in the ongoing fourth Test against England in London, President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday asked for an immediate preliminary report from PCB chairman Ijaz Butt into the allegations.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who was treated for a heart condition in Dubai, could return to Pakistan late on Sunday night, according to a media report.
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