Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari finally gave in to the demands of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz late on Sunday night and decided to reinstate Chief Justice ftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.Reacting to Zardari's decision, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has called off the proposed long march to Islamabad, which had threatened to plunge Pakistan into another political crisis.
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.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is on shaky grounds, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is pro-America and Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is doing well in taking military action against terrorists in his country, a top Republican Senator said on Monday.
Tehreek-e-Taliban has claimed responsibility for the brazen attack on the Pakistan Army's Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Saturday, which left four of its militants and eight soldiers dead.
Former President Pervez Musharraf has vowed to defend himself in Pakistani courts in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling declaring the emergency imposed by him in 2007 as unconstitutional.
Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Ijaz of the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court issued the notices on Monday asking Musharraf and others to respond by the second week of November. The court was asked to direct the filing of an FIR against Musharraf, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, former Intelligence Bureau chief Ejaz Shah and former caretaker interior minister Hamid Nawaz Khan.
Amid clamour to try him for treason, former President Pervez Musharraf who has been living outside Pakistan since mid-April, has said he will return to the country only when conditions are "pleasant".
He was once General Pervez Musharraf's blue eyed boy, receiving a cash award of Rs 100,000 in 2000 from Pakistan's then president for killing an Indian Army officer. Eighteen months later, after 9/11, Musharraf declared him a terrorist.
In a frank admission, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said he made a "mistake" by sacking Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry nearly two years back.
Indian Ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar has said it is not India but the US that has to respond to the recent revelations by former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf that American military aid provided to Pakistan for its war against terror during his tenure, had been diverted to strengthen its defenses against India.
Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has convened a meeting of his loyalists in Dubai on April 2 to formally launch a political party, which is likely to be named the All Pakistan Muslim League.
The United States today said it is taking seriously revelations by former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that aid provided by America for the war against terrorism was diverted during his tenure to strengthen defences against India.
India on Monday said it was not surprised over former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's admission -- of use of United States' military aid against it during his tenure -- and asked countries providing such help to be 'extremely responsible'. "It doesn't come as a surprise. We have been arguing for some years now that the only problem we have with the US military aid to Pakistan is its misuse against us," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said.
Speaking to media persons outside his South Block office in New Delhi, Tharoor said: "We know Pakistan has been misusing US aid for years. I am not surprised by former President Musharraf's statement. This confirms India's stand on the misuse of aid. The United States should monitor aid given to Pakistan more carefully."
Musharraf said that the present conflict between India and Pakistan was not an ideology based issue of a particular ruling party, but due to an 'individual'.
Amid the demand for the trial of Pervez Musharraf for treason by the opposition PML-N, the former president will participate in Pakistan's politics after November 30 when a two-year constitutional bar on him holding public office ends, one of his close aides has said.
A Pakistani court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking the registration of a police case against former president Pervez Musharraf and his close aides for the "murder" of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Twenty-four more people were killed on Saturday as floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains inundated northern Pakistan, raising the overall death toll in the flooding to 46.
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, who was recently booked by the police for illegally detaining scores of judges during the 2007 emergency, has said that he will return to Pakistan very soon.He said he had been busy making the rounds of the international academic circuit delivering lectures and would return to Pakistan as soon as he finished his commitments. Pakistan's Supreme Court declared the emergency imposed by Musharraf in November 2007 as unconstitutional.
In what may be seen as a strategic move to protect former Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf from charges of high treason, senior British diplomat Mark Lyall Grant met top political leaders in Islamabad.According to sources, during his meeting with Zardari, Grant also called for expediting the trial of the accused in the Mumbai terror attacks, and provide New Delhi with some 'face saving' gesture so that the peace talks could resume.
District and Sessions Judge Akmal Raza issued the order in Islamabad after lawyer Aslam Ghuman filed an application in his court asking for a case to be registered against Musharraf, who is currently in Europe.
As Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf defied summons and failed to show up before the country's highest court for the second day on Thursday, Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhary has observed that the ex-President can be tried for "high treason" by Parliament.
Pakistan's Supreme Court could initiate "high treason" proceedings against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who failed to appear before it for the second day in running on Thursday, a close legal aide of the former President fears.
Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani "gave his word" on Sunday to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz that his government will not extend any help to former president Pervez Musharraf to defend himself in any court of law as they agreed to bridge the "trust deficit" between the parties.
Former President Pervez Musharraf will be given security cover of a VVIP as he faces serious threat, a government spokesman said today.
After being summoned by Pakistan's Supreme Court over his actions during the emergency, ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf may face more legal troubles, with a British Muslim politician announcing that he will move a London court against him for alleged 'war crimes'. Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham, an arch-foe of the former President, has stepped up his campaign against him. The PoK-born Labour peer has announced that 'war crime charges' would be brought against Musharraf.
Pakistan's powerful army 'intends to stay neutral', on the Supreme Court's decision to ask former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to explain why he imposed emergency rule nearly two years ago and sacked over 60 judges, according to a media report on Thursday. A bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was among the 60 judges sacked by Musharraf, had on Wednesday issued a notice to the former president.The move sparked speculation in political circles.
Pakistan's ruling coalition on Thursday rejected President Pervez Musharraf's call for reconciliation and announced that a chargesheet for his impeachment will be finalised on Friday, but apparently faced differences among allies on giving a "safe passage" to him.
In the first significant comment by anyone from the government about the imminent impeachment process in Pakistan, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan said it is the political vacuum that exists there that 'greatly worries us'.Maintaining that the situation was evolving in such a manner that nobody could quite reach a conclusion, Narayanan said they thought President Musharraf's impeachment might not take place.
Senior leaders of Bhartiya Janata Party L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj on Friday termed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's talks with his Pakistani counterpart Gilani as a complete surrender of the national interests.
India and Pakistan were close to sealing an agreement on Kashmir and other contentious issues between the two countries when President President Pervez Musharraf was in power. "...I had told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and he had agreed, of course. It was his turn to come to Pakistan and we had decided that if he comes and there is no signature on at least one out of those three, if not all the three, it would be a total flop and that must never happen," he said.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of hijacking charges, stemming from the military coup against his government in 1999, paving the way for his return to electoral politics. Sharif had been banned from office by a lower court after being found guilty of hijacking the then army chief General Pervez Musharraf's plane in 1999.
In the fifth part of our series 'Happy days are here again', reader Ismail Pervez tells us how he got a new job after 5 months of being laid off, albeit at a lesser salary than he earned in his earlier job.
The new foreign secretary brings formidable experience on Sino-Indian relations to South Block
After September 11, the Pakistani army had lost its credibility in the international community mainly because of its well-established relationship with the extremists groups, said Steve Coll, a Pultizer prize-winning American journalist, who has written several investigative stories on Kashmir.
Under intense pressure from the United States and amidst escalating political standoff at home, the Pakistan government on Saturday decided to challenge the disqualification of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from contesting elections, in a move seen as an attempt to defuse the crisis.
In an interview to a private television channel, Musharraf claimed that he had shared all details with Sharif regarding the Kargil conflict.
A change in Pakistan, however, is inevitable in the weeks ahead. The big question will be whether such a change will make Pakistan a more stable country or push it further towards a failed state.
Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf will visit India on Friday to participate in the India Today Conclave.
Keeping up his tirade against his bete noire Asif Ali Zardari, Opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif on Sunday compared the President to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf and accused him of compromising Pakistan's sovereignty by acting on the dictates of the US.
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