Sanam Bhutto, the sister of Zardari's slain wife Benazir Bhutto, had denied giving any interview to journalist Daphne Barak which was the basis of the reports in the Pakistani media, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement issued in Islamabad on Wednesday.
Describing as a "white lie" claims made in a new book that he had secretly backed the Taliban while participating in the US-led war on terror, former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that it was a conspiracy aimed at weakening Pakistan and the army.
The actor is rumoured to be dating late Benazir Bhutto's niece.
Though she is not willing to vote for the President even if all cases against her are withdrawn, she has indicated that she would covertly support the reelection by asking her party to abstain at the time of voting, sources said.
The Pakistan government will restore the Constitution, uphold the supremacy of the Parliament and ensure an independent judiciary, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani said in a television message, on the occasion of the death anniversary of Pakistan People's Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, father of the slain former premier Benazir Bhutto. "We would promote the people's rule. We would represent the aspirations of the people and make this country stronger," said Gillani.
'Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, has insisted that Pakistan is not only working to track down those who may have had links to the attacks, but also promised that if India's allegations prove true, the perpetrators will be put on trial,' Fatima wrote in a column for Al-Jazeera. 'Given the government's track record, one can understand India's lack of faith in Pakistan's justice system,' she wrote in the piece titled, S Asian neighbours' linked destinies.
"Pakistan is a peace-loving country. We don't want to have war or aggression," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said, addressing a function on the occasion of the first death anniversary of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. "We want to have friendly relations with our neighbours -- Afghanistan and India," Gilani said.
More than a year and half after she was assassinated, the Pakistan government today set up a fresh probe into the killing of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
The Foreign Department in Melbourne warned the Australian cricketers of the "high risk of terrorist activity" in India.
"I think there is a hope for justice. Justice is not only carried out in courts. Young Pakistanis, who have seen the violence in Pakistan, will stand up to the justice one day," said Bhutto, who's father Murtaza was killed on September 20, 1996, when Fatima was 14, in a gunbattle with police near his Karachi residence. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was accused of plotting Murtaza's murder but had been acquitted of the charge.
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.
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.
Fatima Bhutto, the niece of slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto, who is aggressively promoting her tell-all tome on the Bhutto dynasty, has said she has not been granted a visa to visit India for a book tour.
Britain's Scotland Yard, which probed the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, on Friday handed over a report on its findings to the Pakistani police. Officials said that the head of a three-member team of British detectives, which arrived in Islamabad on Thursday, handed over the report to senior Pakistani police officials.
The Scotland Yard team spent a little more than two weeks in the country, during which the they visited the site at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi where Bhutto was attacked, reviewed forensic and technical evidence and questioned eyewitnesses and doctors who treated her. They also reconstructed the attack on Bhutto several times.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf returned to Islamabad on Tuesday from a four-nation visit to Europe during which he attempted to shore up support for his controversial regime.
Aitezaz Shah, a 15-year-old suicide bomber arrested last week along with one Sher Zaman in Dera Ismail Khan town of North West Frontier Province, was handed over to Punjab Police on Tuesday and brought to Rawalpindi.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has ruled out any possibility of rigging in the upcoming general elections and said his government has made "fool-proof" arrangements to put Pakistan on the path to "true democracy".
The CIA director described Pakistan's role in the war on terror, saying "The United States has not had a better partner in the war on terrorism than the Pakistanis. The turmoil of the past few weeks has only deepened that cooperation," he said, adding the two countries now had 'even more clearly mutual and common interests'.
Congressman Gary Ackerman, New York Democrat and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, introduced the resolution, which was voted 413-0.
Fatima says she has no political ambitions and is unlikely to overshadow Bilawal, her now famous cousin, anytime soon. "I am political through my writing. I have no interest in parliamentary politics for now. I'm too young. There's a lot to learn," she said.
Asking the Pakistan government to create a level-playing field for a credible and transparent elections next month, Britain has said Islamabad should use the period to "build confidence in the democratic process".
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has conceded for the first time that a gunman may have shot former Premier Benazir Bhutto.
The spokesman said, "We confirm that, at the request of the Pakistan government, a small team of officers from the MPS Counter Terrorism Command will be traveling to Pakistan to provide support and assistance in the investigation into the death of Benazir Bhutto." Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday night announced that he has sought help from the Scotland Yard for the investigations into the assassination of Bhutto.
Asserting that there was no option but to postpone Pakistan's general election due to the law and order situation created by former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination, President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday said that the army would be deployed across the country to ensure fair and peaceful polls. "I had always wanted the polls to be held as per schedule on January 8. But the new date is absolutely reasonable," he said in an address to the nation.
The Election Commission has postponed the elections in the wake of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27.
Pakistan is confident Australia's cricket tour in March and April can go ahead despite security fears, officials said on Tuesday.
An emergency meeting of the poll panel chaired on Monday by Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq sought reports from poll officials in the four provinces about the impact of the protests on election arrangements.
According to the Constitution, a person has be at least 25 years old to become a member of the Parliament. Thus, Bilawal is ineligible to be the chairperson of the PPP. Under the law, he cannot hold any party position till he turns 25.
Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express, which was suspended due to security reasons in the wake of the assassination of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto, resumed its service on Sunday. The decision was taken after consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and railway officials of Pakistan, another official said. No decision has been taken on the resumption of services of the Thar Express.
A few days before her assassination, Benazir Bhutto told journalist Hamid Mir that she was aware of the threats to her life but she believed that 'there is a difference between a politician and a leader. A politician always asks for sacrifices and a leader always sacrifices.' She said she was ready to sacrifice her life for Pakistan.
At least 13 people were killed in violent protests in various parts of the country that erupted after Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi on Friday evening.
'There is no way what is happening, in terms of stopping me from taking private cars or using tinted windows or giving jammers or four police mobiles to cover all sides, could happen without him.' After the October bombing, she accused elements in the government and security services of trying to kill her and asked President Musharraf for 'basic security.'
It was being speculated that the polls could be postponed following the assassination of Pakistan People's Party chief and former premier Benazir Bhutto on Thursday.
The report said death squads were allegedly constituted for the mission and that a cell comprising a 'Punjabi volunteer' of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi carried out Bhutto's assassination.
Adrian Levy , co-author of the recently-published Deception- Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy, told rediff.com in an exclusive interview that an honest investigation into the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto may reveal the hand of the country's military behind it.
Bhutto's husband Asif Zardari and her three children, who arrived in Islamabad late on Thursday night, had a brief chance to see the body before the plane left for Sukkur near Lakarna.
Benazir Bhutto had too many elements against her -- anti-US, pro-Al Qaeda jihadi elements, the Zia-ul Haq loyalists, junior members of the Pakistan army and, possibly, the Pakistan air force.
A former aide of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has accused him of plotting the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
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