UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Wednesday he intended to set up an international commission to probe the assassination of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto during a meeting with her widower, President Asif Ali Zardari.
The IAF 'evidence' shows that the S-2000 laser-guided munition hit the intended targets causing significant 'internal damage', sources said.
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.
First look of Benazir Bhutto with members of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy
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.
In a move towards political reconciliation in Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday met opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif offering an "olive branch", as reinstated chief justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry returned to his post after two years of protests over his ouster.
Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges sacked under emergency rule two years ago were reinstated by President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday, a day after the Pakistan People's Party government defused the standoff with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.
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 main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has asked the government to put former President Pervez Musharraf on trial for allegedly being responsible for the assassination of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
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.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif riefs Opposition on LoC after India's surgical strikes
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.
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.
TV footage showed Zardari coming out of his house and embracing his younger daughter Aseefa before getting into a black Landcruiser.
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.
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.
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.
High Commissioner Bisaria in his brief address to the audience said that some of the guests could not make to the party. "I want to apologise because some of you faced a lot of trouble to come here and some of our friends could not come," he said. Bisaria also said that people had come from Lahore and Karachi to attend the event and thanked them for coming.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
Musharraf had deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges after he imposed emergency in November 2007. The judges had challenged the constitutional validity of the emergency imposed by him. Musharraf had replaced the judges with a hand-picked judiciary, who also validated his re-election as president.
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.
Zubaida Jalal, a former minister in Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's cabinet, was defeated in Monday's parliamentary polls, television channels reported.
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.
Pakistan Peoples Party chief Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif on Friday failed to break the deadlock over modalities for impeaching Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and reinstating deposed judges.
Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has reportedly decided to move an impeachment motion against President Pervez Musharraf immediately on his return from Saudi Arabia, a move that will force the President to quit rather than be thrown out.Local daily, The News, quoted sources as saying that the decision was conveyed by Zardari to all relevant foreign players, including the Saudis. Zardari had issued instructions to party leaders to start work.
Pressing for Musharraf's ouster, Mohammad Hasham Babar, the secretary general of the party which is a part of the Pakistan People's Party-led ruling coalition, said the president has destroyed almost all the institutions in the country, including the judiciary, during his dictatorship. He has to go out. We do not want him. Whether he goes out of the country or he is prosecuted in the country, there are only two options," Babar told PTI in Delhi.