Pakistan People's Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that the office of President of Pakistan was the 'right' of his party and the Sindh province. He added that a dedicated worker of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's party would soon be installed at the post.''I know it very well that there are some remnants of dictatorship, who want to destabilise the coalition government,'' he said without naming President Pervez Musharraf and his political allies.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has no plans to visit slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's ancestral village to offer condolence to her family, but her party has said he would not be welcome even if he were to come.
Amid tight security, 19 year-old Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday returned to his alma mater Oxford, days after appealing to the media to respect his privacy so that he can continue his studies.
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto is eyeing several key posts in the proposed interim set up to conduct general elections in the country.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has asked the Pakistan government to seek foreign help in probing last week's bomb blasts in Karachi that killed at least 165 people. Moreover, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has alleged that there was a deliberate act of sabotage to facilitate the attack.
"Why would I be informing her about all these intelligence reports that we have against her, the threat to her? Why would I be doing that? I can't prove it legally, I can't prove my innocence legally. But I can prove it only through what I stand for as a person," he said.
Clad in a black traditional sherwani, Gillani, the country's 25th prime minister and the first premier from the Pakistan People's Party who is not a member of the Bhutto family, was administered the oath by Musharraf in the central hall of the Aiwan-e-Sadr or presidency in Islamabad. The ceremony was delayed by almost an hour as Gillani had gone to Karachi on Monday to attend the wedding of his son and had to rush back to the federal capital on Tuesday.
Pakistan People's Party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari has categorically said that Yousuf Raza Gilani will be the country's new prime minister for five years and not for three months. Zardari said that he himself is not interested in the job, as is being implied. Local daily The News quoted him as saying that Gilani slept in Adiyala jail without any proper bed for three months but he never contacted his powerful friends and influential relatives for help.
Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf is planning to attack Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry again with the active support of Benazir Bhutto and covert support of the United States. High level meetings are going on in Islamabad in the last two days to chalk out a new strategy against Justice Chaudhry who is becoming a real threat to the Musharraf-Benazir understanding by puncturing the presidential ordinance through which PPP leaders were granted amnesty.
Addressing a crowded press conference, Bilawal, flanked by Zardari and Fahim, said that he would continue the struggle to restore democracy in Pakistan with as much vigour as his mother desired. Now that he was the leader, PPP's "long and historic struggle for democracy will continue with new vigour," Bilawal said, adding, "My mother always said that democracy is the best revenge".
All the behind the scenes drama and the between the lines intrigue from Pakistan, a day before the presidential poll.
No one was injured in the pre-dawn blast damaged the building in Yakatoot area of Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province.
The PML-N, which is set to form a coalition government in Pakistan with the PPP, on Monday said it is opposed to senior PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim being made the prime minister because of his apparent proximity to the military regime. Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Muhammad Asif said his party has "serious objections" to Fahim being made the prime minister.
The Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday ordered action against former prime minister Raja Parvez Ashraf and several others in the multi-billion rupee development funds case.
Though she is not willing to vote for the President even if all cases against her are withdrawn, she has indicated that she would covertly support the reelection by asking her party to abstain at the time of voting, sources said.
India and Pakistan could set aside the Kashmir issue to be resolved by a future generation while they focus on trade and economic ties to improve bilateral relations, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said.
Bhutto's return after the Presidential election, expected to take place before October 15, adds to the political turmoil in Pakistan.
The Pakistan prime minister will be from Pakistan People's Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz joint secretary Siddique-ul Farooq said on Friday.
One of India's most seasoned diplomats on Pakistan, who has had extensive and deep interaction with the Pakistani elite, told rediff.com, "Americans are likely to encourage a deal between the PPP and Musharraf. But we will have to wait and watch."
Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto has won British and American support for her efforts to enter into a power-sharing 'deal' with President Pervez Musharraf before the forthcoming general elections.
The BJP cobbles up the numbers to stake a claim to form a government in Imphal. But ruling the restive state won't be easy, says Chitra Ahanthem.
Bhutto had been handed down a seven-day detention order on November 13 at the residence of a Pakistan People's Party leader in Lahore to prevent her from leading a 'long march' to Islamabad against the emergency. Jahangir, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was put under house arrest in her residence in Lahore shortly after President Pervez Musharraf proclaimed the emergency on November 3.
Asked if he would agree to a power-sharing deal with Musharraf, Zardari told a magazine: "It's too early and our wounds are too deep to think of having any working relationship with the ruling party or President Pervez Musharraf."
A protest march by a UK-based pro-Pakistan group on the Kashmir issue in the heart of London on Sunday fizzled out as barely a few hundred protesters gathered to wave placards and flags.
Benazir said an interim government must be set up by taking all parties into confidence. The former prime minister said the government had discussed setting up an interim political arrangement with her, but the issue of the caretaker prime minister was yet to be discussed, the Daily Times reported.
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