In a stern message to Pakistan, the United States has asked it to shed its policy of "using insurgents" like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba as a strategic tool and warned that if it cannot deliver against terrorists, the US may be impelled to use "any means" at its disposal.
The Pakistan People's Party is set to announce its candidate for prime minister later on Saturday even as the opposition withdrew their nominee for the post following a request from PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. Opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Friday decided to withdraw party leader Farooq Sattar as its joint candidate with ally PML-Q for sthe post of prime minister, paving the way for the PPP nominee to be elected unopposed.
A total of 328 MPs of the 342-member National Assembly were sworn in by outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, after which the House offered special prayers for slain former premier and Zardari's wife Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a suicide attack on a pre-poll rally in December. Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif, who did not contest the election, watched the proceedings from the gallery reserved for guests.
The Pakistan's Peoples Party, set to head Pakistan's new coalition government, is understood to have decided in principle to nominate Asif Ali Zardari for the premiership, a post he will be eligible to occupy only after his election to the National Assembly. The single largest party is also offering Makhdoom Amin Fahim, till recently the front-runner for office of prime minister, the position of PPP parliamentary leader in the National Assembly.
Twenty-six people were killed when a bomb went off in the parking lot of the Federal Investigation Agency office, while four people, including two children, were killed in a separate blast in Lahore's Model Town residential area.Hours later, unidentified gunmen opened fire at a passenger train here, killing four persons and injuring three others, police said.
The people of Pakistan welcomed Obama's emphasis on seeking "a new way forward" with the Muslim world "based on mutual interest and mutual respect", Zardari said in a brief statement.
In the first sign of cracks in the Pakistan People's Party, senior party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said party chairman Asif Ali Zardari's 'unnecessary delay' in naming him as the prime minister has led to the perception that he was being 'humiliated and betrayed'. Asked what would be his reaction if he was not given the post of prime minister, Fahim said: 'I have a roadmap in my mind but I would reveal it only once the decision about the name is announced.'
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sent a new year greeting card featuring a dove to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. "With all good wishes for the new year," the card, which the Pakistan president's office received a few days ago, said. The card, signed by Dr Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur, could be described as a message for better relations between the two countries following the souring of ties in the wake of the terrorist attack on Mumbai, sources said.
The Bush administration has said it continues to support embattled President Pervez Musharraf, whose allies were routed in Pakistan's general election, while maintaining that Washington has no role in the formation of a new government in Islamabad.
Some elements in an intelligence agency were using their links in the PPP and the media to establish that Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan is trying to become a candidate for the position of either the prime minister or the president through the PML-N. But their efforts to create a rift between the two opposition parties, which are planning to form a coalition government, failed.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari overcame pressure and enticement from President Pervez Musharraf's camp and the United States to not align with former premier Nawaz Sharif's party, to form a coalition government with the PML-N, a media report said on Friday.
All is not well between Pakistan's top two leaders with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani taking exception to "increasing interference" by President Asif Ali Zardari in the day-to-day running of the government, a media report said today.
With an increasingly prevalent view in India that the Mumbai attacks had the sanction and endorsement of the Pakistani Army and the shadowy Inter Services Intelligence, it is General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani -- the man at the helm of things -- who is under a scanner.
Zardari explained to journalists who met him in Bhutto's ancestral village of Naudero that he, like the Congress President, wanted to take a back seat and let the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leadership decide things.
Vowing to defend Pakistan till the last drop of his blood, President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday said there would be no compromise on the country's sovereignty and integrity amidst escalating tension with India. "Pakistan is a great nation and we will defend the country till the last drop of our blood," Zardari said at the annual day function of his alma mater, Petaro Cadet College, in Sindh province.
An overwhelming majority of Pakistanis believe their country is moving in the wrong direction and 59 per cent would rather have Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif as president instead of Asif Ali Zardari, a survey has said. Eighty-eight per cent of the respondents in the poll conducted by United States-based International Republican Institute said Pakistan is moving in the wrong direction, while 73 per cent said the economic situation had worsened in the past year.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf held a detailed meeting with co-chairperson of Pakistan People's Party Asif Ali Zardari and reportedly sought unanimity of views on host of issues.
Addressing a crowded press conference, Bilawal, flanked by Zardari and Fahim, said that he would continue the struggle to restore democracy in Pakistan with as much vigour as his mother desired. Now that he was the leader, PPP's "long and historic struggle for democracy will continue with new vigour," Bilawal said, adding, "My mother always said that democracy is the best revenge".
Sharif, who had described the killing as the most tragic event in the history of Pakistan, had earlier planned to travel to Larkana in Sindh province to join the funeral at Bhutto's ancestral graveyard in Garhi Khuda Buksh. But when Sharif spoke to Bhutto's husband today morning on the phone, Zardari advised the Pakistan Muslim League-N chief not to travel to Larkana in view of security concerns. PPP workers have already staged violent protests in Larkana.
Pakistan will build two more nuclear reactors with Chinese assistance as part of its efforts to improve civil nuclear cooperation between two close allies, a top official said today.
Pakistan's efforts to have the two Chinese engineers kidnapped by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan on August 29, 2008, released before Zardari's visit have not succeeded. This incident, coming in the wake three other instances last year of targeted attacks on Chinese nationals working in Pakistan, have added to the concerns of the Chinese authorities . This is one of the subjects the Chinese are expected to take up with Zardari
'India has never been a threat to Pakistan. I, for one, and our democratic government is not scared of Indian influence abroad,' Zardari told Wall Street Journal in an interview.
Pakistan and India are close to concluding an agreement on the Sir Creek maritime boundary dispute, which has been hanging fire for decades, with all issues having been resolved, former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said. The joint map and joint survey has been done and there are no more issues to be resolved between the countries, he said.
Official sources accompanying the Prime Minister said India expects Zardari to come out with steps to end rising incidents of cross-border terrorism and ceasefire violations. The meeting was held at the Millennium Hotel where Zardari is residing.
'We can work together, and of course we will be talking about security,' Bush said, adding, 'Your words have been very strong about Pakistan's sovereign right and sovereign duty to protect your country, and the United States wants to help.'
In its bid to offset the impact of Indo-US nuclear deal, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will take up the acquisition of nuclear fuel technology from China during his forthcoming visit.
Pakistan's new President Asif Ali Zardari offered prayers on Thursday at the grave of his slain wife and former premier Benazir Bhutto in Sindh, his first such visit since taking over the highest Constitutional post.
Zardari assumes Pakistan's presidency at a time when the very survival of the nation is at stake. There is nothing in his past to suggest that he will be successful in overcoming the challenges that Pakistan faces and there is every likelihood that a fresh round of political instability is just round the corner. India should hope for the best but get ready to face the worst in Pakistan in the coming months.
State-run PTV beamed footage on Monday afternoon of Zardari arriving at the presidential palace in the heart of the federal capital with his daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa and close aides. After some brief religious ceremonies, Zardari entered the mammoth building. He will be sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar during a ceremony to be held in the Aiwan-e-Sadr (presidency) at 1 pm on Tuesday.
The Pakistan National Assembly's crucial session on a no-trust motion against embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan was adjourned on Friday without tabling of the resolution, amid vociferous protests from opposition lawmakers.
Ansar Burney, the leading Pakistani Human Rights activist on Wednesday said that he would file a fresh mercy petition to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on behalf of Sarabjit Singh on Thursday.
The PPP's presidential candidate had been advised much earlier to move to the prime minister's house but was reluctant to do so. However, after a security breach at his residence, the PPP chief decided to shift residence
Several members of the opposition PML-Q, which is aligned with Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf, have publicly urged the former military strongman to step down and some have even said they will vote in favour of an impeachment motion against him.
A top Pakistani diplomat in the United States on Saturday said that Islamabad was aware that the peace deal with Taliban in the country's troubled Swat valley would not work but went ahead with it as a tactical move. Pakistan's ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani, in a television interview, said even President Asif Ali Zardari knew about its result from the very beginning of the deal. He also said that such strategy could be repeated in the future.
Pakistani's President Asif Ali Zardari, asked on NBC's 'Meet the Press' program where Osama bin Laden was, told the interviewer, "You'll have been there for eight years. (So) You tell me.You lost him in Tora Bora, I didn't, I was in prison."
In a new revelation, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the CIA of the United States and his country's ISI together created the Taliban.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that India is not a threat to Pakistan and it is facing danger from the terrorists inside the country. This is the first time a top Pakistani leader has publicly said that India is not a threat to his country; a fact which the Barack Obama administration has been trying to convince Zardari and the Pakistan army for quite some time now. "I have always considered India as a neighbour, which we want to improve our relationship with."
Under pressure from the US, President Asif Ali Zardari today said Pakistan is ready to shift some of its troops from the Indian border to its western frontier to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists. The US has been pressing Pakistan to step up its offensive against the Taliban but Islamabad has been reluctant to move troops from the eastern border as it considers India as its main threat.
A feisty Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari says there is no likelihood of his being deposed in a military coup, but if it does happen it will be because the United States along with other democratic countries has had a hand in it.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said he wants drones to be part of his arsenal so that he could effectively use them in the fight against terrorists in the country, but the US so far has not agreed to it.
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