With the 30-day deadline for restoring the judges expiring on Wednesday, senior leaders of the two parties, including Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, are trying hard to sort out their differences on modalities. Some progress was made during the talks, but there were unresolved issues, Sharif said adding, he expects the negotiations to conclude on Thursday.
Some promises made in Benazir Butto's new manifesto strike at the very root of Musharraf's power base while others -- including handing over control of the Military Initelligence and the nuclear arsenal to the prime minister -- go even beyond that.
The Pakistan government's coalition partners - PPP and PML-N - have 'agreed' to reinstate the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf in 2007, PPP chairman Asif Ali Zaradari said. The coalition partners had agreed to finalise modalities for restoring the judges in 30 days of assuming power. The deadline expired on Wednesday.
A committee formed by former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and her political rival Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party has completed 80 per cent of its work on drawing up the charter of demands, which is expected to be completed on Thursday.
Though she is not willing to vote for the President even if all cases against her are withdrawn, she has indicated that she would covertly support the reelection by asking her party to abstain at the time of voting, sources said.
Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gillani on Wednesday said that the fate of President Pervez Musharraf would be decided according to the Constitution while the judges deposed by him will be reinstated in the true spirit of an agreement reached between the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in this regard.Gillani, who belongs to the PPP, called on Sharif and his brother Shahbaz at their Raiwind estate in Lahore after addressing a business meet.
The public sector Indian on Tuesday conducted a probe against the pilot who had allegedly not allowed Indian Union Muslim League leader Abdul Wahab to board a flight at the Kozhikode International Airport. A statement of the airline staff on duty on Monday had been recorded and submitted to the executive director, Indian Airlines Southern Region, Chennai, AAI Station Manager N Kannan told UNI.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif is keen to visit Jammu and Kashmir to trace his ancestral roots, the former Pakistani premier told visiting People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti. Mufti, who travelled to Islamabad last week to participate in a conference, had met Sharif in Lahore on Thursday.
The government and people of Pakistan extend their 'heartfelt condolences' to Vajpayee's family and to the government and people of India, the spokesman said.
Former Prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N said four of its leaders --- Ahsan Iqbal, Sardar Mahtab Abbasi, Rana Tanveer Hussain and Khawaja Saad Rafique -- would rejoin the PPP-led cabinet.
The Pakistan People's Party on Tuesday nominated 51-year-old Mirza, a medical graduate, and Faisal Karim Kundi as its candidates for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker respectively of the Lower House of Parliament. The two candidates are expected to win as the Pakistan People's Party and its allies -- Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam -- have a majority in the National Assembly.
Three new victors -- the Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Awami National Party have shown their majority many days ago, but President Pervez Musharraf is playing delaying games and using secret agencies to break the majority party PPP from the PML faction of Nawaz Sharif.
The PPP, PML-N and ANL together hold 225 out of the required 228 seats to gain a two-thirds majority, which would give the coalition the power to impeach President Musharraf and revoke presidential powers to dissolve the National Assembly.
Suspense over Pakistan's next prime minister continued with the Pakistan People's Party, which will head a planned coalition government, on Thursday delaying a decision on its nominee amid differences over the frontrunner Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
All the behind the scenes drama and the between the lines intrigue from Pakistan, a day before the presidential poll.
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.
Quoting a senior PML-Q official, the report said, "He's been sulking...He's retreated into a mental bunker, which is not healthy. He thinks everyone is out to get him and only listens to a small circle. It's a dangerous mindset to be in at this point in time. He could decide to hit back."
By the evening of February 18 it was clear that Pakistan People's Party, PML of Nawaz Sharif and Awami National Party have swept three provinces and the PML-Q performed well in Baluchistan.
A Pakistan Muslim League-N candidate for Pakistan's general election was shot dead and nine other party workers were injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen in Lahore on Monday.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League will field a person from each province as covering candidate for Gen Musharraf in the presidential poll, he said.
In another strong indication how difficult it would be for the former military ruler to cling on to power, the poll found that the two main opposition parties -- the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) -- had a combined backing of an overwhelming 72 per cent.
Sharif has been deported to Saudi Arabia.
Officially confirming Sharif's deportation hours after he landed in Islamabad from London after a seven-year exile, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said "It is in the supreme interest of the country".
G M Banatwala's death plunged the Muslim League's circles in Kerala into gloom as he was part and parcel of the politics in the state. G M Banatwala, president of the League, died in Mumbai on Wednesday after a brief illness.
Days after ruling out an alliance with Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party for next year's Lok Sabha polls, Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday repeated his stand and indicated that his party might face the polls with existing allies.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N on Wednesday said that it would finalise its response, to a constitutional reforms package drawn up by its ally Pakistan People's Party to clip the sweeping powers of President Pervez Musharraf, by Thursday.A committee formed by Sharif to examine the package met for the second time in the day and its chairman Raja Zafrul Haq said the panel had completed reviewing two-thirds of the contents of the package.
The Pakistan Muslim League-N chief said his party will not accept any national unity government headed by Musharraf.
"I want to remind folks, we have a $10 million Reward for Justice programme that would reward for information that would bring him to justice. So I want to make that clear, so that everybody knows -- $10 million, out for this guy. And we would certainly have concerns about him running for office," said State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert.
In a sign of growing rancour between Pakistan's ruling coalition partners, Pakistan People's Party chairman Asif Ali Zardari has lashed out at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shahbaz Sharif for not taking steps to release his friend, who is in a Punjab jail for nine years on charges of drug smuggling. The PML-N president has reportedly turned down the request though his party is in power in Punjab.
Police said the blast occurred near the venue of an election rally in Mingora, the headquarters of Swat district.
Separatist leader Masarat Alam, who was invited for Pakistan National Day celebrations at the High Commission in Delhi on Monday, will not be attending the event.
The army is currently conducting a major operation in the Swat valley of NWFP against militant followers of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah in which nearly 300 rebels have been killed and about 200 arrested.
Sharif said that Khan's position was much weaker this time than in 2013 when last general elections were held.
The Speaker, responding to pleas by DMK's KN Nehru, who was not among those suspended since he was not present in the House on August 17, made it clear that there was no reviewing of his decision to suspend the agitating DMK legislators for a week.
Kerala Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty is facing sexual harassment allegations
According to the short order, Sharif will have to submit two surety bonds worth Rs 10 million each for his release in the case.
In India, Sartaj Azizis respected as a man of grace, wit and patience. He is a wizened soldier of many diplomatic battles between the two neighbouring nations
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Sunday filed her nomination for the January 8 general elections while her arch rival and Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Nawaz Sharif, who returned from seven years in exile, will file his papers on Monday.
The BJP chief also said there is no need to say 'Bharat Maata Ki Jai' under pressure from the RSS or the BJP.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, 68, and his daughter Maryam, 44, are serving jail terms of 10-years and seven years respectively in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, after an accountability court convicted them on July 6 over the family's ownership of four luxury flats in London.
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