As the Pakistan's People Party-led government today launched countrywide crackdown to derail a PML-N supported mass rally, Pakistan's top Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has accused the government of plotting to kill him.
Pakistan's main political parties on Monday stepped up their war of words, with opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif asking the people to rise up and join him in a 'revolution' against President Asif Ali Zardari's regime and the ruling Pakistan People's Party criticising the politics of confrontation. PML-N president and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif ruled out any reconciliation with Zardari till he gave up his controversial powers.
Pakistan's ruling coalition leaders on Friday held hectic consultations to resolve differences over the restoration of deposed judges, which are threatening to split up the alliance, even as the Pakistan Peoples Party said that it would take steps to resolve the issue through a debate in parliament.Former premier Nawaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League-N is the second largest party in the ruling coalition, has threatened to pull out of the alliance.
Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will make his first public appearance in an international arena as a representative of the party by leading a delegation to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.Bilawal, 19, reached Beijing on Thursday as the head of the PPP delegation, invited by the Chinese Communist Party to the inauguration of the Olympics on Friday.Earlier, his father, PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari, was to lead the delegation.
Facing intense pressure from the United States to act against militants thriving in its restive tribal region, Pakistani has blamed India and Afghanistan for stirring trouble in its northwestern areas and Balochistan province.Ruling Pakistan People's Party leader Rehman Malik, who functions as the interior minister and is a confidant of party chief Asif Ali Zardari, appealed to Pakistan's western allies, including the US, to stop India and Afghanistan's alleged activities.
Veteran Pakistani diplomat and current Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani is expected to be appointed the country's ambassador to the US ahead of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Washington this month.
A petition seeking disqualification of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on money laundering charges has been admitted by the Lahore High Court for hearing, 23 years after it was filed.
In its mouthpiece, Saamna, the party says, "If Pakistan considers us as its enemy, it is a matter of great pride. It is like getting a Mahavir Chakra."
Sanam Bhutto, the sister of Zardari's slain wife Benazir Bhutto, had denied giving any interview to journalist Daphne Barak which was the basis of the reports in the Pakistani media, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement issued in Islamabad on Wednesday.
Amid speculation that the Pakistan People's Party was opposed to restoring deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry as he could scrap a law granting amnesty to party leaders, President Asif Ali Zardari has said he was never against the sacked judge.
The end game that the West is seeking in Pakistan and the region is different from the one that India seeks, despite certain congruence in their objectives. India will have to think more clearly about its strategic objectives vis-a-vis Pakistan and how best to achieve them. The barbarians are at India's gates, there is no time to lose.
Outgoing Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday said he doesn't intend to become prime minister of the country as he thinks presidential slot should be an optimum position for any politician.
First look of Benazir Bhutto with members of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy
Abbasi will be sworn-in in later at a special ceremony at the President's House.
A defiant Pervez Musharraf launched a counter-attack on his foes saying he would prove 'false before the nation' all the allegations levelled against him by the ruling coalition. Officials said the charges against the President are likely to be filed later in the week amid a rising clamour in the ruling coalition that he step down.
Pakistan's ruling coalition's charge-sheet against President Pervez Musharraf will be backed by evidence of the "horrendous" crimes allegedly committed during his regime that could lead to an open trial and make him liable to impeachment "several times", PPP has said.
Sharif, who forced the PPP to reinstate judges sacked during the 2007 emergency by leading a massive protest on the issue earlier this week, said the government should also look into a Supreme Court judgment that barred him and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from electoral politics.
PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said that they have the required numbers to form government.
Pakistan's major political parties on Saturday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Lahore, saying it was a "new beginning of relations" and will help improve ties between the two countries.
Counting has begun for the election which will be the second democratic transition of power in the nation's 70-year history.
Polling started in Pakistan's National Assembly and four other provincial centres on Tuesday to elect a new president who will replace incumbent Asif Ali Zardari in September.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday met President Mamnoon Hussain here and discussed the current political crisis caused due to anti-government protests spearheaded by opposition leader Imran Khan and cleric Tahirul Qadri, demanding the premier's resignation.
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, won the Pakistan presidential election on Saturday, according to an unofficial tally of results. Zardari, who had been widely expected to win, had secured 458 out of 702 electoral college votes, according to partial Election Commission results.
Several US officials have expressed concern over reports that Pakistan Peoples Party chief Asif Ali Zardari, who was diagnosed with mental problems as late as last year, will have partial control over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if elected president, a media report said on Monday.
The petitions challenging the NRO had said the law violated fundamental rights as no government has the right to quash corruption cases. The petitioners also contended that the ordinance was contrary to the constitution and asked for it to be scrapped.
Several US officials including a senior Republican senator have expressed concern over reports that the Pakistan People's Party chief Asif Ali Zardari, a strong contender for presidency, was diagnosed with mental problems as late as last year, a media report said on Monday.
With the Pakistan People's Party's efforts to strike a deal with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz not bearing fruit, candidates of the three main parties, including Asif Ali Zardari, on Saturday remained in the fray for the September 6 presidential poll in Pakistan.PPP chief Zardari, PML-N nominee Saeed-uz Zaman Siddiqui and Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid's Mushahid Hussain Sayed will be the three candidates contesting the elections.
The crisis encircling Pakistan's fragile ruling coalition reached a boiling point on Sunday with the Pakistan People's Party refusing to comply with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's demand on reinstating sacked judges within a deadline and the ally also not enthusiastic about supporting Asif Ali Zardari for presidency.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party on Saturday unveiled a package of sweeping constitutional reforms aimed at curbing President Pervez Musharraf's powers, including those of dissolving parliament and appointing the chiefs of the armed forces. The party, however, remained mum on reinstating judges sacked by Musharraf during emergency last year, an issue that has strained ties with coalition partner Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League N, which quit the cabinet.
Heeding his party's wishes, Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday decided to contest the September 6 Presidential election, but the ruling coalition appeared to be heading for a deeper crisis over the issue of reinstatement of judges sacked by former President Pervez Musharraf.However, the crisis in the government, triggered by the second largest partner of the coalition Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif threatening to pull out .
Dropping hints that Pervez Musharraf's days in office may be numbered, Pakistan's ruling PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari said on Thursday that there is "tremendous" pressure from people who want the President's ouster.
Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif has threatened to pull his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party out of the ruling coalition and "sit in the opposition" if judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf are not reinstated by Friday.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari at Islamabad on Wednesday. Mukherjee arrived in Pakistan on a two-day official visit on Tuesday, to hold talks with his counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in India's first high-level contact with the new government. Qureshi and Mukherjee are expected to discuss various issues including terrorism, Kashmir, exchange of prisoners, bilateral trade and confidence building measures.
Ignoring India's assertions that Islamabad should not interfere in its affairs, Pakistan's Parliament decided on Tuesday to set up a panel to monitor human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir and mobilise world opinion in support of the 'right of self-determination' for Kashmiri people.
Last year, Musharraf declared Ifikhar Muhammad Chaudhry a non-functional chief justice of Pakistan. This year, he is becoming the first non-functional President of the country. Some close friends have already advised Musharraf to step down quietly, but the General is still confident that his hand picked army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kyani will rescue him soon.
India and Pakistan should cooperate in fighting the common threat of terrorism instead of engaging in any sort of blame game over the Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan Information Minister Sherry Rehman has said. Rehman claimed India's leadership had made contradictory statements on the involvement of Pakistani agencies in the Mumbai attacks.
The Pakistan Peoples' Party-led coalition government has sent an unambiguous message to the United States that any mess with the newly elected democratic dispensation by President Pervez Musharraf will not be tolerated. The PPP leadership, however, held out a categorical assurance to the Bush administration that the new government would not create a situation leading to the unceremonious exit of Musharraf.
In a touching and inspiring speech Aitzaz Ahsan asked how America can talk about democracy in Pakistan but not raise its voice against the illegal decision of President Pervez Musharraf to sack Pakistan's chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry
Voicing concern at the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan's restive tribal areas, the US on Tuesday asked the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to narrow its differences with the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party over the operation launched against militants in the country's northwest.
'That is not a democratic ideal obviously, but it is a practical reality.' 'It is a consistent feature of politicians in Pakistan that their rhetoric on the army softens the closer they get to the seat of power.'
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