Amid efforts to defuse the political crisis, former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif has attacked President Asif Ali Zardari for "fighting democracy" and blamed his actions for the unrest in the country.
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.
Political tensions in Pakistan rose on Monday with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif openly asking people to come to the streets and the government warning the former prime minister that his anti-government speeches amounted to sedition.
Khan said Zardari does not want to 'ruffle any feathers in New Delhi' or blame India for being involved through Afghanistan for terrorist attacks in Pakistan. 'He basically does what Americans want him to do. He is petrified of anything where he would get Americans upset,' Khan told his biographer Frank Huzur in an interview.
As India continues to push Pakistan to eliminate terrorism, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said he believes President Asif Ali Zardari is sincere about ending the menace, but underlined that his desire should be backed by actions. "I believe he (Zardari) has the desire to fight against terrorism," he said in an interview to a TV channel while describing the Pakistan President as a 'nice man and a gentleman'.
After National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani, it was the turn of the Special Public Prosecutor in the Mumbai attacks case to be sacked by the Pakistan government for making controversial remarks on the lone captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab.
An Indian peace delegation, during its visit to Pakistan after the Mumbai terror strikes, has tried to impress upon the Zardari government to expedite prosecution of the perpetrators of the carnage saying the people in India are "angered" by the ghastly incident.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday fired the special public prosecutor in the Mumbai terror attack case, more than a week after the senior lawyer sparked a controversy claiming that Islamabad had formally requested India to hand over Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the three-day terror siege..
Maryam told the charged workers that the days of trouble for Khan had begun.
The Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has acknowledged that the Taliban, with whom his government reached a truce deal in the restive Swat valley days ago, are "murderous thugs and militants" who "pose a danger to Pakistan, the United States and India".
Acknowledging that his government had underestimated the threat from Taliban, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said the terrorist group was present in "huge amounts of land" in the country extending its reach beyond the tribal belt to larger cities like Peshawar.
Pakistan will move forward to resolve the Kashmir issue with India through a peaceful dialogue and the nation's new government will continue confidence-building measures initiated by the previous regime, Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari finally visited the flood-hit areas in the southern province of Sindh on Thursday, two weeks after the country was hit by its worst humanitarian crisis in 80 years. Zardari visited the city of Sukkur located on the banks of the Indus River to take stock of the rescue and relief efforts. Zardari's decision to undertake a trip to France and Britain earlier, despite the country reeling under the worst floods in its history.
Karzai was administered the oath of office by the head of Supreme Court Abdul Salam Azmi at a grand ceremony at the presidential palace in the presence of 800 guests, including External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
Reacting to Zardari's comment that the Kashmir issue be set aside for focus on Indo-Pak ties as a whole, Kashmiri separatist leaders asserted that the resolution of the Kashmir was vital for peace in south Asia.
"We believe that all the difficulties the country is facing can be resolved with the support of all the political parties," Zardari told journalists after meeting Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The PML-N has indicated that it will support the PPP-led government from outside. Zardari has been working to get the backing of all parties, including the Jamiat, for the government and his meeting with Rehman was part of these efforts.
At a luncheon hosted by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for newly elected Parliamentarians, leaders of the three parties said they would support each other to form the federal government and to change the establishment to ensure that the military no longer had a role in Pakistan's politics.
Former National Security Adviser of Pakistan Mahmud Ali Durrani, who was sacked after disclosing to media the Pakistani nationality of Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab, has said he had written authorisation from the prime minister to speak on the evolving situation in the wake of the 26/11 strikes.
Pakistan's two main Opposition parties stepped up efforts on Friday to identify a consensus candidate for Prime Minister and hammer out a power-sharing formula after the former rivals agreed to form a coalition government.
Ending the suspense on government formation in Pakistan, the two main opposition parties on Thursday announced they would form a new ruling coalition, but did not name any prime ministerial candidate.
The Bush administration may fail to save its most trusted friend because the PPP and PML-N are determined to form a coalition and clip all those powers through which a president can dissolve parliament.
Amid reports of a rift between them, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met in Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the regional security situation after the country's admission that captured Mumbai attacker Ajmal Amir Kasab is its national. The meeting came amid Pakistani media reports that Zardari was angry over Gilani's decision to sack Durrani without consulting him. Durrani had been handpicked by Zardari for the key post last year.
Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, accused by the Pakistan government of being involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, is set to dispatch a delegation to meet Pakistan People's Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari to condole the death of the former premier, a news report has said. "The delegation, comprising prominent tribal elders and religious scholars from South Waziristan, will deliver a written condolence letter from Mehsud to Asif Zardari," it said.
American Vice President-elect Joseph Biden will travel to Pakistan this week to defuse regional tensions in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, according to a media report.
Pakistan's peace and stability are linked to the defeat of militants and terrorists in the country and Islamabad is in a dialogue with the world community on this, President Asif Ali Zardari has said."Pakistan had been attacked by militants and it is imperative to defeat them for peace and stability in the country," Zardari said."The whole nation is a victim of militancy and terrorism & we must join hands for fighting the menace regardless of partisan considerations,"he said
When Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari stepped on to the podium to address the United Nations General Assembly last month, people in Pakistan expected him to put forth their concerns in front of the international community, but they had no idea that the four pages of his speech had actually cost them US $ 25,000.
India should not underestimate Pakistan's military power because it is 'capable of thwarting any aggression from the east', President Asif Ali Zardari said at a meeting with Gen Tariq Majid, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, in Islamabad on Tuesday night.
The delegation is scheduled to take up these matters with Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, and other senior officials on Tuesday. The team is visiting Pakistan to seek the country's 'agreement to work through Interpol to help identify terrorists worldwide, including those behind the deadly November 26-29 terrorist bombings in Mumbai', said a statement from Interpol.
In a bid to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan, United States on Monday rushed its top Army official to Islamabad, to hold discussions with the country's political leadership. US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen arrived in Islamabad today on an unscheduled visit, second after the November 26 terror strikes in Mumbai that killed more than 180 people. Mullen met Pakistani national security advisor Mehmood Ali Durrani shortly after his arrival.
'I have checked myself. His (Ajmal Amir Iman alias Ajmal Kasab) house and village has been cordoned off by the security agencies. His parents are not allowed to meet anybody. I don't understand why it has been done,' Sharif, who hails from Punjab, said in an interview to Geo News channel.
In a U-turn, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said there is still no 'real evidence' that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai came from Pakistan nor had it been established that the lone arrested attacker Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab hailed from the country's Punjab provinceZardari, who earlier acknowledged that the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage of November 26 could be 'non-state actors' from Pakistan, made these remarks.
'Yes. Definitely, I do not shrug away from that position. Anybody from my soil is my responsibility,' he told Newsweek magazine when asked to comment about US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's statement that 'non-State' actors on Pakistan's soil are still its responsibility.
In a blunt message to Islamabad in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, British Premier Gordon Brown said on Sunday that "time has come for action" against terrorists operating from the soil of this country as he revealed that the 3/4th of the terror plots investigated by the UK had links to al-Qaeda and Pakistan.
Taking exception to India's contention that "epicentre of terrorism" is located in Pakistan, Islamabad today warned that such comments would be counter-productive for joint efforts to combat the menace and insisted that none of those detained during the crackdown on JuD would be handed over to India.
Rubbishing reports that he had made a threatening phone call to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari after Mumbai strikes, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today regretted Islamabad giving credibility to a "hoax" call and said it was a bid to divert attention from the fact that Pakistani elements had launched "attack on India".
In the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Pakistan Army chief has informed the country's leadership that if tensions with India mount further, the military will have to move troops from its restive tribal areas to the eastern borders, ending the war against local militants.
There was some miscommunication, says Zardari Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday blamed "miscommunication" with India for Islamabad seemingly going back on its promise to send Director General of ISI to New Delhi and instead said a Director-level officer will be coming. Zardari claimed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during a telephonic talk with, had requested for sending "Director". "There was a miscommunication... We had announced that a Director will come
Pakistan on Saturday did an about turn on sending the Inter-Services Intelligence chief to India, in connection with the probe into the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, saying a representative of the spy agency would be sent instead of him.The decision was made at a late night meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of the powerful army. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also joined the meeting.
In contradiction to Pakistani President's interview to an English daily where he said he was ready to work with India in the 26/11 case, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asserted that Pakistan will not buckle under pressure mounted on the Mumbai attacks issue.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has reiterated that Islamabad is ready to cooperate with New Delhi to bring the Mumbai attack perpetrators to justice.
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