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.
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.
With international pressure mounting on Pakistan to cooperate in bringing the Mumbai attack perpetrators to justice, President Asif Ali Zardari and powerful army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani today discussed the security situation across the country and tensions with India.There was no official word on the meeting, though Dawn News channel said
Notwithstanding the chill in bilateral relations, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have sent their New Year greetings to their Indian counterparts.Zardari and Gilani have sent their greetings to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through the Ministry of External Affairs, sources said on Wednesday.
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.
Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor on Saturday sought to allay Pakistan's apprehensions over the positioning of troops along its border by asserting that India was never a threat to its neighbour.
Pakistan's armed forces will mount an equal response "within minutes" if India carries out any surgical strike inside the country, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has reportedly assured the nation's leadership.
Welcoming the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia, the United States on Tuesday said it is encouraged by the resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue, which was stopped in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia, premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has sought early resumption of the stalled dialogue process between India and Pakistan to address long-standing issues like Kashmir.
In the first top-level contact since the Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday during which he is understood to have made it clear that Pakistan should take concrete action against terrorism directed against India.
Pakistan's intelligence agencies are no longer backing outlawed groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which will not be allowed to use the country's soil for any acts of aggression, President Asif Ali Zardari has said.
"Pakistan is committed to the pursuit, arrest, trial and punishment of anyone involved in these heinous attacks," says Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in an oped in the December 8 issue of the New York Times.Cautioning against 'hasty judgments and inflammatory statements', Zardari says that the raids of December 7 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which resulted in the arrest of some wanted Lashkar-e-Tayeba terrorists, demonstrates that 'Pakistan will take action.'
The ruling Pakistan People's Party on Saturday unveiled a package of sweeping constitutional reforms aimed at curbing President Pervez Musharraf's powers, including those of dissolving parliament and appointing the chiefs of the armed forces. The party, however, remained mum on reinstating judges sacked by Musharraf during emergency last year, an issue that has strained ties with coalition partner Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League N, which quit the cabinet.
Dropping hints that Pervez Musharraf's days in office may be numbered, Pakistan's ruling PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday that there is "tremendous" pressure from people who want the President's ouster.
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.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari at Islamabad on Wednesday. Mukherjee arrived in Pakistan on a two-day official visit on Tuesday, to hold talks with his counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in India's first high-level contact with the new government. Qureshi and Mukherjee are expected to discuss various issues including terrorism, Kashmir, exchange of prisoners, bilateral trade and confidence building measures.
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.
Pakistan's main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has asked the government to put former President Pervez Musharraf on trial for allegedly being responsible for the assassination of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
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.
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
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".
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
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.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today said his government was determined to eliminate Taliban militants from the region but promised to make every effort to keep collateral damage to the minimum.
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.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was obviously so impressed by her meetings with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari that she ventured into the White House briefing room after sitting in on the meetings between President Barack Obama and the two leaders, to express her optimism that a solid alliance had been formed committed to crushing the Taliban and other extremist elements destabilising the region.
Contradicting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's claims, United States President Barack Obama has suggested that Osama bin Laden is still alive and he is operating under the assumption that the Al Qaeda leader is not dead. Addressing a town hall meeting in the central state of Missouri, the US President also reiterated his administration's position that Al-Qaeda and the Taliban "are the single most direct threat to our national security interests."
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.
President Asif Ali Zardari has assured the United States that the Pakistan government will not allow anybody to challenge its writ or run a parallel administration in any part of the country. Zardari gave the assurance to US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke during a telephonic conversation, the Daily Times reported on Friday.
A resurgent Taliban in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley on Monday vowed to enforce Islamic laws across the country while ruling out the possibility of laying down arms, following the implementation of Sharia in the region.The Sharia or Islamic law regime approved recently by President Asif Ali Zardari will not be confined to Malakand division, which includes Swat, and the Taliban wants the system to be enforced in other parts of Pakistan, Taliban spokesman said.
Pakistan's parliament on Monday endorsed a move to enforce Islamic laws in the restive northwestern Swat valley, which is largely controlled by the Taliban, and asked President Asif Ali Zardari to accord approval to the measure to usher in peace across the country.The National Assembly or lower house of the parliament adopted a resolution recommending that President Zardari should accord approval to the Nizam-e-Adal Regulation to implement Shariah or Islamic laws in Swat.
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.
Earlier in the day, Nawaz Sharif resigned from the prime minister's office following disqualification from the Supreme Court in the Panamagate verdict.
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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday made it clear that the composite dialogue with Pakistan would not be possible until Islamabad shows 'visible results' with regard to the investigation in the Mumbai terror attacks. The Prime Minister said that Islamabad should convince New Delhi about their 'sincerity and determination' to deal with the menace of terrorism.
The international community, including India, must offer the Pakistan government all the help and encouragement that it needs to fight and root out the menace of radical extremism, or else the terrorists will spread their tentacles far and wide -- including, eventually, into India.
Two months after resigning as Pakistan Cricket Board's Director-General, Javed Miandad on Monday returned to the post with more powers and the backing of PCB patron-in-chief and the country's President Asif Ali Zardari.
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.
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