With Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan virtually losing the majority in the 342-member National Assembly after the defection of two key allies, backdoor efforts are underway to reach a deal between the premier and the joint opposition to dissolve the lower house, according to a highly placed source.
According to Dawn Online, the two also discussed matters of internal security and the war against terrorism.
An independent candidate was on Friday shot dead, while a Pakistan People's Party nominee went missing in the port city of Karachi.
Altaf Hussain, Pakistan's powerful Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader, was arrested on Tuesday in London on charges of money laundering.
A Muttahida Quami Movement legislator and his son were shot dead by gunmen in a drive-by shooting outside a mosque in Karachi on Friday, leading to eruption of violence in many parts of Pakistan's biggest city that claimed four lives.
A news report claimed India has been helping the Muttahida Qaumi Movement with funds and training to create unrest in Karachi.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement protests against a self-imposed morality code.
India will need to watch carefully and understand the new round of instability and uncertainty in Pakistan, while charting the course of its future diplomatic initiatives, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
'All the anti-India groups like LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul Mujahideen have been activated with terrorist camps and launching pads in place.'
The International Crisis Group said that security forces were allowing 'anti-India outfits... to operate madrasas and charity fronts'.
The Pakistani Taliban has said that it will carry out more attacks on "secular" political parties like the ANP and MQM, warning people to stay away from their rallies, a day after a blast outside an ANP gathering injured about 10 people.
PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that they have the required numbers to form government.
The Pakistani election on July 25 has a strong Indian flavour and connection, says Vivek Shukla.
'After General Raheel Sharif took on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, some sections of the military establishment may have felt unease as to whether the crackdown could be extended against friendlier 'non-State' actors like the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.'
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday ordered an operation by Pakistani law enforcement agencies to end a wave of ethnic and political violence in Karachi even as MQM chief Altaf Hussain called on the premier to quit if he was unable to restore peace in the port city
The root cause of the law and order problem in Karachi is that both MQM and ANP have seemingly converted themselves into narrow ethnic-based entities that are using violence as a tool against each other, writes Amir Mir
Khan's spokesman Dr Shehbaz Gill said that the prime minister has just a slight fever and cough.
As clamours for his resignation mounted with withdrawal of support from his key ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan's beleaguered Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday reached out to the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam in desperate attempts to shore up his government.
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As mayhem continued in the financial hub, reports said nearly 60 people have been killed since Friday in the city that has been in the grip of violence for the past few months.
PTI leader Naeenul Haq told media on Saturday night that consultations are on to complete the number game.
A political storm appeared to be brewing in Pakistan on Monday with Asif Ali Zardari's ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement asking him to quit over a controversial law that allowed the President to return home in 2007 by scrapping graft cases and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif threatening to challenge the legislation in court.
Khan said he would go to London on June 2 and assemble a team of lawyers to file a case against Hussain for his alleged role in 'instigating' the violence.
'Without trust the negotiation process will fail again,' says MQM leader Altaf Hussain.
Amir Nizami, son of one of the clerics, said they will be picking them from the airport and will go to Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has accused India's external intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing of involvement in "whipping up terrorism" in the country.
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
Pakistan's intelligence agency detained bothe the clericks for their alleged links with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, official sources said on Saturday.
Pakistani authorities executed two men convicted for attacks on the army headquarters and former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Friday night, days after Pakistan lifted its moratorium on the death penalty.
Eleven people died in sectarian violence in Pakistan's largest city today, taking the overall death toll in two days to 18 as unrest spiralled out of control on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Muharram.
Rights activist Asma Jahangir has criticised Pakistan's powerful spy agency Inter Services Intelligence for attempting to turn the country into "ISIstan" by controlling the security and democratic dispension.
Pakistani Taliban has warned that the next few days and weeks would be "disastrous" for the country as the banned outfit vowed to "teach" the government and its security agencies a lesson over the killing of its leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike.
Abbasi will be sworn-in in later at a special ceremony at the President's House.
Pakistan's largest city and business hub was paralysed on Friday on a strike call given by Imran Khan's party as part of its countrywide protests against the Nawaz Sharif government for allegedly rigging last year's polls.
Even as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif headed to the United States for the 70th session of the UNGA and for bilateral meetings to be held on the sidelines of the multilateral summit, back home all that is expected of him is to internationalise the Kashmir issue, or as Pakistan puts it, the 'Kashmir dispute'.
'The response to terror is not always reciprocal terror, nor is launching a conventional response the best response.' 'The best response is to make the sponsor pay a price he cannot afford,' says former RA&W chief Vikram Sood.
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