In a setback to Asif Ali Zardari, a Pakistani court on Thursday ruled that the President, who is also the chief of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, should suspend political activities and must be impartial.
Pakistan's Law minister Babar Awan resigned on Wednesday to appear as the government's counsel in a case in the Supreme Court seeking a review of the death sentence awarded to former premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. President Asif Ali Zardari, who also heads the ruling Pakistan People's Party, recently asked the apex court to review the death sentence awarded to Bhutto in 1979.
A group of over 500 Pakistani scholars and clerics have described the policeman who gunned down Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer as a Ghazi (an Islamic warrior) and have warned against any expression of sympathy for the slain Pakistan People's Party leader, saying it would tantamount to an act of blasphemy.
Pakistan's opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday gave the beleaguered government a 72-hour ultimatum to act on several demands, including rollback of a fuel price hike and probe into corruption scandals, failing which the Pakistan People's Party could be booted out from the Punjab government. Sharif, chief of the country's main opposition party the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, did not link the demands to support for the PPP-led government at the centre.
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.
Hafiz Saeed has confirmed that his organisation Jammat-ud-Dawa would contest the 2018 general elections under the banner of the MML.
The Pakistan government has been blamed of politicising flood relief efforts after it revealed plans to name new towns built for flood victims as 'Benazirabad,' after the former slain premier Benazir Bhutto, a report in Telegraph.co.uk stated.
In a bid to capitalise on the Pakistan People's Party led government's dipping popularity due to its slow response to the catastrophic floods, former Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf is likely to formally launch his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), next month.
Most Pakistani politicians have not matched the contributions made by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie and the national cricket team for the millions of people affected by devastating floods sweeping the country.
When Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was meeting his Indian counterpart for ice-breaking talks in Russia, back home his confidante and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar warned India of a "befitting response" in case of any aggression.
Slain Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto was given an assurance by the "highest authorities" in Pakistan and the US that she would be the next Prime Minister after the 2008 general elections, according to a media report on Wednesday.
Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Friday sought a signed explanation from Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani in the wake of reports that the government was planning to remove key members of the superior judiciary, deepening the rift between the two sides.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said his government was not in clash with either the judiciary or the army and insisted that the days of military coups and of the president dissolving an elected parliament were effectively over.
According to the sources in the ruling Pakistan People's Party, Gilani is quite perturbed over the prevailing situation wherein his whole political career is at stake due to the prevailing political and constitutional mess.
Jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz with 64 and former president Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party with 43 seats are placed at number two and three respectively, the Election Commission of Pakistan said.
Salmaan Taseer, governor of Pakistan's powerful Punjab province and a key aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, was on Tuesday assassinated in Islamabad by one of his security guards who was angered by his opposition to a controversial blasphemy law
The ruling Pakistan People's Party feels that the disclosure of US diplomatic cables have been beneficial to return of popular rule in the country as it has forced the military to clarify its position regarding democracy, a party leader has said.
Pakistan's ruling Pakistan Peoples Party on Wednesday denied that former President Pervez Musharraf was given a "safe exit" after his resignation under a negotiated settlement guaranteed by "international and local" stakeholders, saying that no such deal was struck.
The Interior Ministry has compiled a list of 13 senior government officers, which include former Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen (Retd) Hamid Gul, former Chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Brig (Retd) Ijaz Shah, former federal Interior Secretary Kamal Shah and a senior bureaucrat of Punjab Government Ashfaq Anwar, The Nation reports.
A landmark constitutional reforms package aimed at striking down the Pakistani president's sweeping powers and strengthening democratic institutions was tabled in Pakistan's parliament on Friday, with the ruling Pakistan People's Party describing it as a "bill of hope".
The ruling Pakistan People's Party's efforts to finalise a constitutional reforms package suffered a major setback after it failed to achieve consensus with the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on the procedure for appointing judges and on renaming the North West Frontier Province.
Pakistan's Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, an outspoken leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, was on Tuesday assassinated by one of his security guards in a gun attack at a market in the heart of Islamabad. Taseer was getting into his car at Kohsar Market in Islamabad's posh Sector F6/3 area when the guard from the elite force of Punjab police shot him with an automatic weapon at a close range. He was rushed to the Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has struck down President Asif Ali Zardari's order appointing two top judges, stoking fears of a fresh showdown between the government and judiciary with the ruling Pakistan People's Party blaming the fiercely independent Chief Justice for the crisis. Going against the recommendations of the country's top judge Iftikhar Chaudhry, the President on Saturday appointed Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif as a judge of the apex court.
In a major setback for the Pakistan People's Party-led civilian government, the Lahore high court on Monday dismissed an appeal filed by Interior Minister Rehman Malik against his conviction and sentencing in two corruption cases by another court.The anti-corruption court, acting on references by the National Accountability Bureau, had awarded Malik a three-year prison term. The court pronounced the sentences after the minister failed to turn up for the trial.
People across Pakistan on Sunday paid tributes to slain former premier Benazir Bhutto and offered special prayers on the second anniversary of her assassination even as her close aides called on the PPP-led government to identify and bring her killers to justice.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that certain hidden forces are conspiring against democracy and the government in the country.
Former pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has described as a "mistake" his decision to promulgate the National Reconciliation Ordinance, a graft amnesty that was recently struck down by Pakistan's Supreme Court.
Shahzain Bugti, leader of the Balauch Jamhoori Watan party, has charged the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government at the centre of "inaction" in not registering cases against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for allegedly murdering his grandfather Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is unfazed by the Supreme Court's judgment declaring the National Reconciliation Ordinance as 'unconstitutional', and has vowed to face the challenges.
Intense political pressure has forced the ruling Pakistan People's Party to abandon a move to get the parliament to endorse a controversial law, which scrapped graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, raising questions about his future. Following a meeting of senior PPP leaders chaired by Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the party announced late on Monday night that it would not ask the parliament to validate the National Reconciliation Ordinance.
Mulk, 67, is likely to be sworn in on Friday, June 1.
The Pak PM reiterated his government's firm resolve to extend its fullest moral, diplomatic and political support to the indigenous freedom struggle of Kashmiri people.
Pakistan People's Party leader Sherry Rehman was a close friend of Benazir Bhutto and was in Bhutto's vehicle when she was assassinated. After the PPP won the elections, Rehman became a minister. She quit months later but remains a member of the party. Excerpts from an interview with Jyoti Malhotra.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said that the Pakistan People's Party-led government was not giving any extension to Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, as he has not asked for the extension of his tenure.
The Pakistan government has no plans to roll back the country's atomic programme and is committed to maintaining a minimum nuclear deterrence, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan said Tuesday. The Pakistan People's Party-led government will not compromise on the country's defence and sovereignty, he said in the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament.
Adiala jail authorities have limited the movement of Sharif after some prisoners started chanting slogans against him as he was out for a stroll in the courtyard of his barrack on Thursday morning.
What has peeved the administration most is the civilian government's lack of control of its border areas and failed peace deals with extremist elements. These failed efforts by Islamabad have led to exponential growth of these jihadis. The mounting evidence of the collusion of Pakistani intelligence with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, in launching attacks against American forces in Afghanistan, is worrying the Bush administration.
Ruling Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is expected to assign important responsibilities to his daughter Bakhtawar in the PPP women's wing.Zardari has held consultations with women workers of the PPP in this regard and decided to assign the responsibilities to Bakhtawar, who currently lives in Dubai.The PPP will be strengthened with Bakhtawar's participation in party affairs.
The Pakistan People's Party-led government is considering a proposal to seek Interpol's Red Corner notice against ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf, in a bid to bring him back from abroad to face treason charges, days after he called party chief and President Asif Ali Zardari 'a criminal and a fraud'. Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani had even hinted that it might not be possible to put Musharraf on trial, after main opposition PML-N stepped up demands for action against him.
If former dictator Pervez Musharraf returns to Pakistan to participate in the country's politics, the ruling Pakistan People's Party government will put him on trial in the Nawab Akbar Bugti murder case as well as for illegal detentions in the Supreme Court judges case, sources aware of the 'exit deal' have revealed. In case the former dictator breached the clandestine deal, the law would take its own course and he would have to surrender himself to the courts, say sources.
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