Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt on Thursday.Sources indicate that while Dr Singh will seek a firmer commitment on tackling terror from his Pakistani counterpart, Gilani might rake up the contentious issue of Kashmir during the talks. The composite dialogue between India and Pakistan had come to a standstill after the terror attack on Mumbai in November
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has met top US officials to discuss the Barack Obama Administration's review of the Afghan policy.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was on Tuesday quoted as having linked the Samjhauta train blasts near Panipat in 2007 to the Mumbai terror attacks last November.According to the Dawn newspaper, Qureshi had told reporters in Multan that the Samjhauta Express incident and the Mumbai attacks were inter-connected and the probe could continue only if India responds to questions raised by Pakistan.
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Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while talking to reporters at the airport in his hometown of Multan on Saturday, described the cooperation between the two countries "as the key to ensuring successful prosecution of the culprits" involved in the Mumbai attacks.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stated this after a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who sought deepening cooperation and developing political dialogue between Pakistan and the European military alliance to achieve common strategic objectives. Any 'activation on the eastern border' would affect Pakistan's involvement in the war on terror, Qureshi told a joint press conference after their talks.
An army soldier was also injured in the encounter.
It seems that the Sharm-el-Sheikh controversy and Congress party's politics over it has hit the Prime Minister's Office. A source in the government is underplaying the September 27 meeting between Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York.
Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has asserted that the main agenda of his meeting his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York would be to pressurise Islamabad in taking action against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack.
Describing the Mumbai terror attack as a setback that paused the Composite Dialogue with India, Pakistan on Wednesday expressed confidence that 'this hiccup' in the bilateral ties will be overcome. "This unfortunate incident has been a setback... to the extent that our Composite Dialogue is at a pause at the moment," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, foreign minister of Pakistan, spoke to Karan Thapar on issues ranging from the spread of Taliban to the investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks and the trust deficit between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Angered by terror strikes in Mumbai, India on Friday bluntly told Pakistan that its intention to take a leap in bilateral relations would be impossible if outrages like the attacks in the financial capital do not stop. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told his visiting Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi that he hoped Islamabad would take immediate action with regard to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
"I want to put this in absolutely clear terms that Islam does not preach violence. In fact, the so called jihad that terror groups talk about, is not what they think it is. Real jihad in fact means fighting the perpetrators of terror," the cleric said. Madni added that the Jamiat is planning to organise a conference to discuss the various aspects of terrorism and ways to stop it, in Mumbai next month.
Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned the terror strikes in Mumbai and offered complete cooperation and support to India to fight the menace.
With investigators suggesting involvement of some Hindu outfits in cross-border Samjhauta Express train blast, the issue is all set to figure in the Indo-Pak Foreign Ministerial and Home Secretary-level talks next week.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will undertake a three-day visit to India from November 26 during which the two countries are expected to discuss terrorism, Kashmir issue and confidence-building measures.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quershi has asked the US to help Islamabad fight the Taliban, saying his government is "very determined to eliminate sanctuaries of the extremists on its soil".
India has maintained that there can be no talks with Pakistan unless it stops supporting terrorists.
"Three children were among those killed. The remote-controlled bomb was attached to a motorcycle," officials said.
Rejecting India's demand to extradite the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to the country, Pakistan has said such a move will be 'harmful' for it as there was no extradition treaty between the two neighbours. Qureshi said Pakistan had conducted its own 'independent investigations' into the charges of Pakistani elements involved in the Mumbai terror strikes and that it will do everything in the interests of India and Pakistan.
Pakistan said on Saturday night that its "hands are clean", it had nothing to hide and that it is not involved in the Mumbai terror attacks but offered unconditional support and assistance to India to unearth the hands behind the incident.
Visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday denied the terrorists who attacked Mumbai had travelled by boats from Karachi. He snapped back at the media in Chandigarh asking the question: "Have you seen the boat? Could you travel on that boat from Karachi? The media should be supportive and understanding. It's too early to say anything."
Aazad may visit Delhi for medical reasons and election purposes. The court had earlier restrained him from visiting Delhi for four weeks and directed him to not hold any 'dharna' till the elections in the national capital.
Briefing leaders from PoK on its Kashmir policy ahead of crucial meetings with India to review the composite dialogue process, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi noted that the issue had remained "unresolved despite several attempts at bilateral and multilateral levels" over the last six decades. Pakistan "was ready to engage with India in a constructive dialogue to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties, in particular the people of Kashmir," he was quoted.
Pakistan allowed the US to conduct limited operations in its territory against Al Qaeda and Taliban militants during the reign of former president Pervez Musharraf, ex-foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said. "Pakistan had allowed the US to conduct limited operations," Kasuri, a close confidant of Musharraf, told Geo News channel in an interview.
Out on bail, the Bhim Army chief said 'it will be shameful if I don't call him out for saying that those indulging in violence can be identified by their clothes itself'.
Pakistan will take up with India 'certain violations' of the provisions of a 1960 treaty in water projects, being constructed by the neighbouring country on Chenab and Jhelum rivers, during External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Islamabad in May.Design changes in the water projects being built by India go beyond the provisions of the Treaty and Pakistan is making efforts for their rectification. The Indus Waters Treaty gave Pakistan the rights to the rivers.
A court slammed Delhi Police on Tuesday for failing to show any evidence against Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, observing that people are out on the streets because things which should have been said inside Parliament were not said.
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General Bajwa remains in command as army chief and Prime Minister Imran Khan did not play any role in the reshuffle, says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Despite the blasts, Pranab Mukherjee's Pakistan visit is crucial.
Sukanya Verma hails Bollywood's memorable bus moments.
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.
The composite dialogue between India and Pakistan will resume on May 21 and the two countries will review progress made so far in confidence-building measures, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Wednesday. "We will review the results of the fourth round of talks (under the composite dialogue) and then plan the agenda for the fifth round to be held after this meeting," Qureshi said.
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"Now that the atmospherics have improved, the two countries need to move to dispute resolution, especially the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir," Kasuri said.
'If a 'two-front war' develops, Iron Brother may only turn out to be a drag on the PLA, since Pakistan is in no position to wage a war with India,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will pay a six-day state visit to China from April 10, his first foreign trip since the new coalition government took over, during which several bilateral agreements are expected to be signed. New Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar will accompany Musharraf during the visit. It will also be the first trip abroad by the new ministers.
India has not shared intelligence with Pakistan on the Samjhauta Express blasts despite repeated requests, Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri has said.
'The sooner Pakistan and India face these geopolitical realities, the better it will be for their own security and prosperity,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.