Appearing to change the tone after tough talk on Mumbai attacks, the US on Thursday said Pakistan "understands its responsibilities" to respond to terrorism wherever it exists and sounded convinced that Islamabad would act against those responsible for the strikes in India.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly denied his country's involvement in the audacious attacks in Mumbai, saying the terror strikes in the India's financial capital were executed by the 'stateless actors who wanted to hold the entire world hostage'.Zardari also ruled out any possibility of Pakistan and India going to war, saying "democracies do not go to war". He asserted that the state of Pakistan is not responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
As Indo-Pak Foreign Ministers are set to meet in New York, Pakistan appears to be under tremendous pressure from US and its allies to ensure that it convincingly addresses India's concerns on terrorism, including Mumbai attacks, and does nothing that derails all efforts to revive the bilateral peace process.
Warning that militants have the power to precipitate a war in the region, President Asif Ali Zardari has asked India to "resist striking out at his government" should investigations show that "Pakistani militant groups" were responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Saturday night to discuss the fallout of the coordinated terrorist strikes in Mumbai amid India's accusations about possible Pakistani links to the attacks. This was the second meeting on Satruday of the three top leaders
Pakistan on Friday told the United Nations General Assembly that Islamabad looks forward to the resumption of the composite dialogue process with New Delhi and wants friendly relations with India.
United States President Barack Obama on Thursday reiterated that the US will remain a steadfast partner for Pakistan as Islamabad moves towards peace and prosperity.The President told the Friends of Democratic Pakistan in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, that he would like to congratulate President Asif Ali Zardari and the member states and organisations constituting the body, for the important work that has been done over the last 12 months.
Zardari, who made a telephone call to Gandhi to condemn the coordinated terrorist attacks in Mumbai that left over 100 people dead and many more injured, said the killing of innocent people was "most detestable". A statement issued by the presidency said Zardari "condemned the attacks in the strongest possible terms".
Seeking resumption of the composite dialogue process with India, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said such a move is in the best interest of the region.
India and Pakistan have agreed to reinforce cooperation between their civilian investigation agencies to control cross-border terrorism, illegal immigration, influx of fake currency and liberalise the visa regime under the joint anti-terrorism mechanism
As Pakistan remained mum on disgraced scientist A Q Khan disclosing the government and army hand in nuclear proliferation, its High Commissioner to UK said on former premier Benazir Bhutto never "indulged in that sort ofthing." Wajid Shamsul Hasan also said the publication of Khan's letter in this regard in a British daily was timed to "embarass" President Asif Ali Zardari who is visiting the US.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has revealed that extremism was a by-product of Pakistan's past mistakes and was deliberately created during the 1980s.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday declared that his country will not be the first to use nuclear weapons against India and would work towards opening trade, besides underscoring that Kashmir belonged to the Kashmiri people.
While the US continues to millions as financial aid to Pakistan to fight terror, it has also invited over 20 countries and five financial institutions to participate in the the Friends of Democratic Pakistan forum for the sake of Pakistan's better future.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari recently met 50 captured Taliban leaders, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in a prison to assure them that their outfit had his government's full support and that they would be freed soon, a media report in London claimed on Sunday.
The full detail regarding the cost incurred on the visits are unavailable, but according to an estimate Zardari's nine foreign trips between September 2008 and March 2009 cost a whopping 157.257 million rupees to the national exchequer.
Acts of cyber terrorism that cause death will be punishable with death or life imprisonment in Pakistan, an ordinance issued by President Asif Ali Zardari has proposed.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that he is 'disenchanted' with the way India handled the bilateral relations in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks as he expected New Delhi to 'behave much more maturely'. "This new-age terror has created a phenomenon where a few people can take entire states to war. The fact that these people happen to belong to Pakistan or India or Bangladesh is immaterial. They are non-state actors, and states should behave like states."
Over 100,000 Indians, including former test cricketers and chief justices, have signed a mercy petition addressed to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari seeking clemency for Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in a Pakistani prison.
Hamid Karzai's first priority after getting re-elected as Afghanistan's president is to open peace talks with Pakistan in an attempt to end the Taliban insurgency raging across their shared border, one of his top aides has said.
In what may be seen as a strategic move to protect former Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf from charges of high treason, senior British diplomat Mark Lyall Grant met top political leaders in Islamabad.According to sources, during his meeting with Zardari, Grant also called for expediting the trial of the accused in the Mumbai terror attacks, and provide New Delhi with some 'face saving' gesture so that the peace talks could resume.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday backtracked on his remarks describing militants in Jammu and Kashmir as "terrorists", saying there is no change in Pakistan's Kashmir policy, a day after his comments triggered an outcry in this country.
Defying a Supreme Court order, Pakistan government on Thursday said graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland over alleged stashing of $ 60 million in banks there cannot be reopened and made it clear that the matter is closed.
The United States on Thursday said it will make sure that justice is delivered to the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and that it has conveyed the same to Pakistan government.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan, while the latter renewed his invitation to the former to visit India during their meeting in New York. Briefing reporters, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said both leaders accepted each other's invitation, but dates have not been decided yet.
What we need to understand is that when Pakistan feels cornered its leaders will seek assistance and sympathy and export mangoes; their purpose served, they will revert to form and export jihadis. The way to handle Pakistan is not through kind gestures and misplaced magnanimity; these are taken as signs of weakness and generally used to bargain for more.
Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani "gave his word" on Sunday to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz that his government will not extend any help to former president Pervez Musharraf to defend himself in any court of law as they agreed to bridge the "trust deficit" between the parties.
Indicating that Dr Singh will take up with Zardari the issue of continued cross-border terrorism and ceasefire violations, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon asserted that an atmosphere free of violence and terror was necessary for the dialogue process between the two countries to move ahead.
Pakistan's new President Asif Ali Zardari may face threat from his country's army, which remains unwilling to counter a resurgent Taliban effectively, a leading think tank claimed on Thursday."The Pakistani army remains unable or unwilling to counter effectively the resurgent Taliban and Zardari's major challenge is to gain the trust of the army, which in turn may pose a threat to him," the International Institute for Strategic Studies said.
The top United States commander in Afghanistan has said that they are facing difficulties in their latest military campaign against the Taliban due to lack of cooperation from Pakistan.General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force and US Forces in Afghanistan, is believed to have pursued this line in his secret visit to Islamabad over the weekend, during which he met President Asif Ali Zardari and Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned the serial blasts in Delhi, terming those responsible as 'enemies of humanity'.In separate messages, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani expressed shock and grief over the loss of precious human lives.Gilani said the elements involved in such 'heinous acts are enemies of humanity'.
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, won the Pakistan presidential election on Saturday, according to an unofficial tally of results. Zardari, who had been widely expected to win, had secured 458 out of 702 electoral college votes, according to partial Election Commission results.
Sarabjit Singh's mercy plea, requesting that his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment, has been forwarded to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. The plea was moved after the Supreme Court rejected Singh's petition challenging the death sentence awarded to him earlier.Sarabjit, who is currently languishing in the Kot Lakhpat jail, is a resident of Amritsar. He was arrested near the Kasur border in Pakistan in August 1990.
'Let us be truthful to ourselves and make a candid admission of the realities. Militancy and extremism emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralised, but because they were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives,' The Daily Times quoted Zardari, as saying.
With his forces battling Taliban militants in the country's troubled northwest, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari does not see India as the foremost threat and says the "position of being able to take over another state is nullified" after both countries acquired nuclear arms."I would love to be remembered for creating a Pakistan where militancy -- I know it can't totally be diminished -- is defeated," he said.
Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's lawyer will file a fresh mercy petition before Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday, in the wake of the Supreme Court dismissing his appeal against capital punishment.Owais Sheikh, the new counsel for Sarabjit, said the petition seeking clemency for the Indian national will include a letter addressed to Zardari by the condemned man.
Several US officials have expressed concern over reports that Pakistan Peoples Party chief Asif Ali Zardari, who was diagnosed with mental problems as late as last year, will have partial control over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if elected president, a media report said on Monday.
In an interview to CBS Face the Nation, Chairman of America's Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is focused on both -- the threat from India and that from internal insurgency.
Several US officials including a senior Republican senator have expressed concern over reports that the Pakistan People's Party chief Asif Ali Zardari, a strong contender for presidency, was diagnosed with mental problems as late as last year, a media report said on Monday.
With the Pakistan People's Party's efforts to strike a deal with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz not bearing fruit, candidates of the three main parties, including Asif Ali Zardari, on Saturday remained in the fray for the September 6 presidential poll in Pakistan.PPP chief Zardari, PML-N nominee Saeed-uz Zaman Siddiqui and Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid's Mushahid Hussain Sayed will be the three candidates contesting the elections.
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