Senior leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition partners the Pakistan's People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz -- will resume talks for the fourth day in Dubai on Thursday, about finalising a deal to reinstate deposed judges, while insisting that there is no threat to the government. "We have made progress during seven hours of marathon meetings, but there are still differences on certain legal issues," PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar said.
Even as the talks between leaders of Pakistan's coalition government on restoration of deposed judges remain inconclusive, co-chairman of Pakistan People's Party Asif Ali Zardari has said the reinstatement would be brought about through a constitutional package. The PPP calls for reinstatement of judges through a constitutional package, but the PML-N insists that they should be restored through a parliamentary resolution, as initially agreed by the two parties.
'We must make viable peace. This (Kashmir) is a solvable problem that must not take further lives,' Zardari said in a 'special vision statement' read out at a conference organised by Tehelka magazine in London on Friday. Pending a final settlement, 'we agree with the statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh supporting an autonomous Kashmir running much of its own affairs', Zardari said.
The Pakistan government will restore the Constitution, uphold the supremacy of the Parliament and ensure an independent judiciary, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani said in a television message, on the occasion of the death anniversary of Pakistan People's Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, father of the slain former premier Benazir Bhutto. "We would promote the people's rule. We would represent the aspirations of the people and make this country stronger," said Gillani.
The PPP's presidential candidate had been advised much earlier to move to the prime minister's house but was reluctant to do so. However, after a security breach at his residence, the PPP chief decided to shift residence
Pakistan will move forward to resolve the Kashmir issue with India through a peaceful dialogue and the nation's new government will continue confidence-building measures initiated by the previous regime, Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday.
Pakistan's minority Hindu community leaders have asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to accept their demand for a public holiday on Diwali and announce a special aid package for them on the festival.
Faced with the Sunday deadline, the Pakistan People's Party on Friday said that it would announce the name of the new prime minister this weekend. However, senior party leaders continued to wrestle with differences on the issue over a month after the parliamentary polls.Differences in the PPP on who should lead the coalition government continued with vice chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, once a frontrunner for the post, saying he had suggested a formula to Zardari.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party on Friday condemned as 'despicable' the claim by an Indian author -- that its late party chairperson Benazir Bhutto had confided to him -- that she participated in the nuclear black market.In a statement, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the claim that Bhutto had "made such an acknowledgement to an obscure journalist is a tasteless and cheap exploitation of her tragic assassination".
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday summoned Pakistan's parliament on March 24 to elect the new Prime Minister, though there was still no word from the Pakistan People's Party and its allies on their nominee for the top post.Musharraf received the official communique regarding the convening of the National Assembly to elect the leader of the House from the Prime Minister's Secretariat on Thursday morning.The President signed the summary.
There is no change in India's Pakistan policy after general elections in the neighbouring country, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Saturday. "There was no change in our policy towards Pakistan," he told mediapersons at the Hindustan Aeronautics complex in Nashik.
The distribution of ministries and parliamentary committees was discussed by top leaders of the PPP and PML-N in Islamabad on Thursday, though the final decision on the government is expected to be announced only on March 17, shortly before the first session of the new National Assembly. Sources said the two parties were yet to decide about key ministries like interior, finance, foreign affairs and defence.
Several members of the opposition PML-Q, which is aligned with Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf, have publicly urged the former military strongman to step down and some have even said they will vote in favour of an impeachment motion against him.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf believes that the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will part ways because of several insurmountable issues. However, Musharraf's main ally, the PML-Q, holds the opposite view.
Pakistan's Army is to ask the country's embattled President Pervez Musharraf to relinquish office in a week's time as its top brass would not want him to be impeached, a news report said on Saturday.
Former Prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N said four of its leaders --- Ahsan Iqbal, Sardar Mahtab Abbasi, Rana Tanveer Hussain and Khawaja Saad Rafique -- would rejoin the PPP-led cabinet.
The PPP and PML-N, in a charter signed two years ago, had committed to setting up a commission to review the Kargil conflict. Musharraf claimed that Sharif, the then prime minister, was aware of the Pakistan army's advances into Kargil. Sharif has denied the charge, and is seeking a probe to fix responsibility for the war.
Reacting to Zardari's comment that the Kashmir issue be set aside for focus on Indo-Pak ties as a whole, Kashmiri separatist leaders asserted that the resolution of the Kashmir was vital for peace in south Asia.
"We believe that all the difficulties the country is facing can be resolved with the support of all the political parties," Zardari told journalists after meeting Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The PML-N has indicated that it will support the PPP-led government from outside. Zardari has been working to get the backing of all parties, including the Jamiat, for the government and his meeting with Rehman was part of these efforts.
At a luncheon hosted by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for newly elected Parliamentarians, leaders of the three parties said they would support each other to form the federal government and to change the establishment to ensure that the military no longer had a role in Pakistan's politics.
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has said that the time has come for a "final" parleys with the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) over the impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf and restoration of judges deposed during last year's emergency.
As the spurt in terror incidents threatens to overshadow the upcoming talks, senior Pakistan People's Party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim on Thursday suggested that some elements may be trying to 'sabotage' the improvement of Indo-Pak ties which the two countries should not allow.
Pakistan's two main Opposition parties stepped up efforts on Friday to identify a consensus candidate for Prime Minister and hammer out a power-sharing formula after the former rivals agreed to form a coalition government.
Ending the suspense on government formation in Pakistan, the two main opposition parties on Thursday announced they would form a new ruling coalition, but did not name any prime ministerial candidate.
The Bush administration may fail to save its most trusted friend because the PPP and PML-N are determined to form a coalition and clip all those powers through which a president can dissolve parliament.
The late Princess Diana's Pakistani love interest Hasnat Khan is back in the news -- this time for being denied a job in a prestigious medical institute in Islamabad.Khan, a heart surgeon, was looking for a job in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences after his return from London, but his moves were allegedly punctured by the powers-that-be.Khan met Diana at Royal Brompton Hospital when she visited a friend recovering from heart surgery.
Pakistan does not want another war with India over Kashmir, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said while describing the current status of bilateral relations as the "best" the two countries had ever had.
The stage is set for talks between Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League - N chief Nawaz Sharif on a draft parliamentary resolution for reinstating judges, sacked last year by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, with the arrival of the Pakistan People's Party co-chairman in London on Thursday. Besides the question of judges' restoration, the two leaders will also review national and political developments.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf on Monday withdrew his Rs 220 million defamation suit against fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar after a top government official mediated for a reconciliation between them. The meeting, which took place in Islamabad on Sunday night, was brokered by Rehman Malik, a top man in the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and advisor to the Prime Minister on interior affairs. Both Shoaib and Ashraf were present at the meeting.
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.
Asked about the PPP's move to link the restoration of judges with a Constitutional package for judicial reforms, Sharif said the two could not be linked. "We have been discussing both since Wednesday and that (Constitutional package) is a separate issue. The restoration (of the judges) will take place through a resolution," Sharif said after a meeting with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
With the 30-day deadline for restoring the judges expiring on Wednesday, senior leaders of the two parties, including Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, are trying hard to sort out their differences on modalities. Some progress was made during the talks, but there were unresolved issues, Sharif said adding, he expects the negotiations to conclude on Thursday.
The Pakistan government's coalition partners - PPP and PML-N - have 'agreed' to reinstate the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf in 2007, PPP chairman Asif Ali Zaradari said. The coalition partners had agreed to finalise modalities for restoring the judges in 30 days of assuming power. The deadline expired on Wednesday.
Pakistan's National Assembly on Wednesday endorsed the proclamation of the emergency by President Pervez Musharraf amidst a boycott by opposition lawmakers and a protest by Pakistan People's Party workers.
Pakistan premier Yousuf Raza Gillani on Wednesday said that the fate of President Pervez Musharraf would be decided according to the Constitution while the judges deposed by him will be reinstated in the true spirit of an agreement reached between the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in this regard.Gillani, who belongs to the PPP, called on Sharif and his brother Shahbaz at their Raiwind estate in Lahore after addressing a business meet.
Ruling out fleeing Pakistan, embattled President Pervez Musharraf said the killing of Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto upset his "plan" under which he would have wielded control over key portfolios of security, foreign and defence while she would be the prime minister. In an interview to the Channel Five, Musharraf said that it was not his nature and training to be a mere spectator and leave things unfinished.
The remarks by Dar, a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, came within days of the World Bank saying in a report that Pakistan will benefit from granting Most Favoured Nation-status to India.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif is keen to visit Jammu and Kashmir to trace his ancestral roots, the former Pakistani premier told visiting People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti. Mufti, who travelled to Islamabad last week to participate in a conference, had met Sharif in Lahore on Thursday.
"Washington helped engineer the deal that permitted Bhutto's return. Now, it must help her and Pakistan truly move toward democracy," the New York Times said.
'The Congress will never change its ideology, but to fight this new kind of propaganda politics, we have to prepare ourselves.'
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