'The government is irrationally following a policy of blind populism which threatens to divide the nation.'
The civilian leadership informed the military authorities that Sharif's hour-long meeting with Jindal was a part of back-channel diplomacy. And Jindal had the backing of some important Indian officials for the meeting to defuse ongoing tension between the two countries, the report said.
Benazir said an interim government must be set up by taking all parties into confidence. The former prime minister said the government had discussed setting up an interim political arrangement with her, but the issue of the caretaker prime minister was yet to be discussed, the Daily Times reported.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif will not return to the country before the general elections, President Pervez Musharraf has said. The president exuded confidence that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League will return to power, saying the next prime minister will be from the PML. Musharraf was addressing about 170 legislators of the party, including federal ministers, at a dinner at the prime minister's House.
The court also refused to suspend the conviction in the case until the appeals were decided.
A war between Pakistan and India is no more an option to resolve their disputes as both countries have become nuclear powers, a senior Pakistan leader has said. "Now that both countries have turned a nuclear power, I do not think war will be an option," Mushaid Hussain Sayed, secretary general of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q, said.
The Pakistan prime minister will be from Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz joint secretary Siddique-ul Farooq said on Friday.
The author says there was massive rigging in Pakistan polls despite a Musharraf loss
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday filed his nomination papers for the October 6 presidential polls, formally launching his bid for another five-year term in the face of legal challenges and stiff protests by the opposition parties.
As Musharraf finalised his plans for re-election, a senior minister said the general will be deemed to have been elected unopposed for another term if the opposition parties did not put up any candidate against him
Our top leaders want to see Sharif as the Prime Minister in case our party does badly in the upcoming general elections," the Dawn quoted the ruling party sources as saying in Islamabad.
The government claims the deal bars the deposed prime minister from entering the country before the completion of a ten-year exile.
Authorities arrange helicopters to shift Sharif to jail; 300 PML-N workers arrested.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday hinted that his Pakistan Muslim League- N party may not be averse to an alliance with Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party in the forthcoming general elections. Sharif said that the PML-N and the PPP can explore the possibility of a coalition government after the elections. the PML-N had decided to boycott elections to express solidarity with the PPP following Bhutto's assassination. But it reversed the decision later.
Bhutto had earlier said that her party would contest the polls 'under protest', while Sharif has backed the All Parties Democratic Movement's decision to boycott the polls.
The Indian Sikhs were in Pakistan to to participate in the celebrations marking the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. They met Sharif, who's father hails from Jati Umra, a village near Amritsar, at his home in Lahore.
PML-N chief and former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to contest the by-election from Lahore. He will contest a seat vacated by top PML-N leader Javed Hashmi, who won from three constituencies in the last general election. Sharif last contested the election in February 1997 from his Gawalmandi constituency in Lahore. He has won from the constituency five times consecutively.
The JuD will contest the election on the platform of a little known "dormant" political entity, Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek.
Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Tuesday said that the current emergency in Pakistan will prove to be the 'shortest ever' in the history of the country as it would be lifted within a few weeks. Hussain claimed that his advice to impose emergency was ignored months ago and hundred of deaths could have been avoided if the step was taken earlier. The emergency, imposed on Saturday by Musharraf, would be lifted within a few weeks.
sharif's deportation was one of the rare occasion when Saudi Arabia and the royal family had been openly criticised, when traditionally they have been accorded great respect, bordering sometimes on reverence.
The decision was taken after the ECP again dismissed the MML's application for registration on Wednesday.
Posters of General Musharraf will be put up in cities, towns and villages across the country. PML leaders will also organise seminars and public meetings to convince the public to vote for the president.
Saudi Arabia has assured Nawaz Sharif that it will take up the issue of his "exile" and "deportation" with Pakistan after Eid-ul-Fitr, the deposed premier's party has claimed.
The JuD, a front for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack, launched its political front Milli Muslim League, but it has not been yet registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan. With general elections approaching, the group decided to contest on the platform of a "dormant" political entity, Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek, which is registered with the ECP.
The VIP cells of Attock jail in Punjab province were being whitewashed and new curtains and furniture put in place to house former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered a probe into the matter.
'Escalation of violence in the tribal areas and Musharraf's increased physical vulnerability to another terrorist attack would be the inevitable outcome of the operation.'
Abdul Rashid Ghazi blamed the US and called the government an agent of the US.
As India celebrates its 70th Independence day, Rediff.com pays homage to millions who laid their lives for the country's freedom.
Amid reports that the Pakistan government was under pressure to allow Pervez Musharraf to leave the country, the former military ruler on Sunday said he will not flee and defend himself in all cases.
Opposition members tried to corner the government in both the Houses over the Supreme Court decision that states are not bound to provide reserved seats for the SCs, STs and OBCs in appointments and promotions.
"Saudi Arabia has already told Nawaz Sharif that he can go back to his country whenever he likes. We are working out the modalities so that he can return in November," said PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.
Musharraf, who appeared defiant in the face of criticism over the crisis and violence in Karachi, asked coalition members in unequivocal terms to prepare for the next general election without bothering about the current situation.
Earlier this month, the parliament approved amendments in Hudood laws on rape and adultery.
India has invited leaders of all South Asian countries, including Nawaz to Modi's oath-taking ceremony scheduled for May 26.
Being a son of Nehru's dentist is not the only connection that Alvi has with India. He is yet another president whose family migrated to Pakistan from India after partition. His predecessors Mamnoon Hussain's family came from Agra and Pervez Musharraf's parents migrated from New Delhi.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition seeking derecognition of political parties whose names indicate their inclination towards a particular religion.
Another suspect has been taken into custody for shooting at Pakistan's Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
Former Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar is tipped to replace Sherry Rehman as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, according to a media report on Wednesday.
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