A former official of Pakistan's foreign office with links to the Shia group Tehrik-e-Islami has been detained by security agencies for his alleged connections with militants who carried out a suicide attack on a mosque in Rawalpindi frequented by military personnel.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has decided to send a parliamentary delegation to attend the much-hyped cross-border wedding of tennis star Sania Mirza and cricketer Shoaib Malik.
The Pakistani authorities have arrested three men allegedly working for the India's Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency during a raid in the north-western Pakistan district of Abbottabad , according to a media report. The Personnel from an intelligence agency raided a hideout in Abbottabad district on Tuesday and arrested the three men identified as Muhammad Sharif, Ghulam Muhammad and Abdul Ghaffar, The News daily reported on Wednesday.
The Pakistani media has asked its government to conduct a reappraisal of its efforts to engage India and to independently ascertain whether certain people allegedly involved in militancy enjoy protection and if so, why?
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani discussed the regional situation during a meeting on Tuesday and decided "to carry out a credible investigation of the evidence provided by India", The News daily said quoting sources
Taliban cadres have been carrying out armed patrols on roads in Buner district and established a check post at Pacha Killay over the past few days, local residents were quoted as saying by The News daily.
As the battle in lawless Waziristan intensified, the Pakistan government on Monday raised the bounties on the heads of 19 Tehrik-e-Taliban terrorists, including its chief Hakimullah Mehsud to a whopping Rs 41 crore or USD 5 million.
Pakistani troops fired at two United States helicopters that intruded into the restive North Waziristan tribal region, forcing them back to Afghanistan, a media report said on Monday.The gunship helicopters apparently intruded into Pakistani airspace at the border village of Lowara Mandi in North Waziristan Agency before they were fired at by Pakistani forces on Sunday night. Pakistani soldiers used 12.7 mm light machine guns at the helicopters, forcing them to fly back.
A hitherto unknown pro-Taliban group called 'Ansar Wa Mohajir' has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's car bomb attack in Lahore, for which four alleged Indian nationals have reportedly been arrested by Pakistani authorities.
Joining the Republican chorus on the failed Christmas Day attack on board a flight headed for Detroit, former United States Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday alleged that President Barack Obama is not tough against terror and 'is trying to pretend we are not at war'. "As I have watched the events of the last few days, it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war," Cheney said in his statement to Politico.
The Pakistan army is running the foreign policy of the country and dictating vital policy decisions as it continued to be in power in the country, Asma Jahangir, the chief of Pakistan's top rights watchdog, has said.
Pakistan's powerful spy agency Inter Services Intelligence has been restructured by the government by weeding out 32 senior officers of the rank of brigadiers and colonels in a move to make it trim, a media report said on Wednesday. The report said the revamp had been undertaken as the spy agency had expanded out of proportion in the recent years and many top level officers continued to serve in the organisation despite attaining superannuation.
Pakistani officials confirmed the development while the US embassy spokesperson refused to comment, saying the information 'appears to be only hearsay', The News daily reported. Some diplomats in Islamabad were aware of the Taliban operation but were not ready to speak on record. One of the hijacked helicopters had already been sold to an unidentified customer in Afghanistan, the report said.
The Pakistan government has released over a dozen jailed Taliban commanders to secure the release of a Chinese engineer who was kidnapped by the militants nearly six months ago.
Pakistan-based militant groups, including the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, are pondering a new, friendly policy on Kashmir in the wake of mounting pressure on Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attacks, a media report in Pakistan claimed on Thursday. Senior leaders of the LeT and the United Jehad Council, a conglomerate of terrorist groups active in Jammu and Kashmir, are reassessing their policy in the aftermath of the November 26 terror strikes, the News daily said.
"Such material cannot be treated as ample proof," a source in the Foreign Office was quoted as saying by The News daily.The statement of Iman alias Ajmal Kasab does not amount to admissible proof under "any penal code anywhere in the world, including India or Pakistan," it said.
Musharraf's lecture tour of foreign countries, including India, had been firmed up before the Mumbai terror attacks in November, a source close to the former military ruler told The News daily. Musharraf is expected to start the tour with his first lecture in the US on January 14, the paper reported.
The Pakistani establishment now believes that the 'time of war' with India is over and the recent telephonic contacts at the highest military level have led to reduction in tensions generated in the wake of troop build up following the Mumbai terror attacks.
Claiming that 'thousands of our well-armed militants are ready to fight alongside the army if any war is imposed on Pakistan', chief of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, told The News daily by phone from an undisclosed location. Hundreds of would-be bombers had been 'given suicide jackets and explosive-laden vehicles for protection of the border in case of any aggression by the Indian forces', he said.
A top local Taliban leader has dismissed contentions by Pakistani officials that India is helping militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistani authorities have reportedly imposed restrictions on the movement of Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar and confined him to his home despite turning down India's demand for handing him over.Azhar, who was freed by Indian authorities along with two other terrorists in exchange for passengers of an Indian Airlines flight hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in 1999, has been confined to his multi-storey building in Model Town area of Bahawalpur.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is hopeful that disputes related to Siachen and Sir Creek will be resolved very soon with India, creating an atmosphere for the two countries to achieve a breakthrough on the long-standing Kashmir issue."All the possible solutions on Kashmir will be discussed first in a parliamentary committee on Kashmir and then the final solution will be approved by parliament," he said.
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.
The Pakistan government has sought a report from officials on how Indian Minister Jairam Ramesh "strolled" into Pakistani territory at the Wagah border, violating rules and regulations last week, a media report has said.
At least 11 suicide bombers have entered Islamabad and Rawalpindi to target politicians and sensitive installations during the month of Muharram, the local media has reported.
Pakistan has taken serious notice of reports that the US Army chief Gen W Casey is scheduled to visit the Siachen glacier in Jammu and Kashmir during his ongoing three-day visit to India.
The demands included exemption from all taxes, inspection-free import and export of goods and materials, free movement of vehicles and vessels including aircraft without landing or parking fees, exemption from tax payments for selected US contractors, free of cost use of US telecommunication systems and a waiver of all claims for any loss or destruction caused by the American personnel.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf might quit if people vote for political parties opposed to him in the February 18 general election, a key member of the presidential camp has said.
Pakistan on Friday dismissed as "incorrect" a local media report which suggested that it had abandoned the idea of claiming Jinnah House in Mumbai to open a consulate in India's financial hub.
Sources in Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the government also has no plans to back the country's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah's daughter Dina Wadia's efforts to gain possession of the building. The sources said, "Keeping aside the sentimental value of Muslims of the subcontinent, it is clear that the Jinnah House was the personal property of Quaid-i-Azam (Jinnah) and not of the Pakistan government".
The officer, who was not named by The News daily, claimed that in the Chamb operation during the 1971 war, Captain Dev Lal, Captain Dilgir Singh Jammuwal and his 32 comrades were killed by his unit.
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.
The US has offered funding and security guarantees for the $3 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline if Islamabad "abandoned" the Indo-Iran pipeline project.
The official said the Sharif family, which currently lives in London, have maintained their contacts with the Pakistan government through interlocutors, though both sides have vehemently denied it publicly.
While there could be moral and political objections, there is no provision in any law, statute or the Constitution, which bars the same assemblies to elect a President for a second term, he said.
In a measure that could adversely affect many Indian workers, Saudi Arabia is set to implement a new labour law next month that would cancel employment contracts for men at the age of 60 and women at 55.
Scores of intellectuals, campaigners and political activists are expected to join the march that will culminate in Multan on May 11.
They had been air-dropped in areas held by Al Qaeda militants in the south Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The man, identified as Kishore Kumar Kombath, had gone missing from his Riyadh home on May 15.
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