Pal, who succeeded Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, was among the seven new envoys of different countries who presented their credentials separately at a colourful ceremony at the Presidential office in Islamabad.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday dismissed major legal challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's re-election even as the general reportedly made plans to visit Saudi Arabia for talks with its ruler on the possible return of former premier Nawaz Sharif.
He said in a text message sent to his lawyer in London before his arrest, that his life was at risk due to the British government's failure to prosecute Musharraf's key London-based ally.
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.
Amid deepening political crisis, embattled Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was on Thursday huddled with his key aides in cobbling up a caretaker government ahead of the general election as police and anti- emergency demonstrators traded fire in Karachi leaving two children dead.
'It was a step backward for Pakistan's democratic transition and democratic process. And that is one that ultimately would carry consequences, will carry consequences, and does carry consequences for our relationship,' State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey asserted.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday announced that general elections will be held by January 9 and a caretaker government will be in place by November 15 to oversee the process. Musharraf also vowed to take the oath of office for another term as a civilian President, hanging up his military uniform after the Supreme Court gives its verdict on his October 6 Presidential victory.
Terrorist groups, which were banned during the tenure of former President Pervez Musharraf, have again become active and reopened their offices in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday that general elections will be held by February 15.
New Delhi refused the visa as it wanted to avoid a situation where questions could have been raised over allowing a person, who has directly helped militancy, to visit India. Malik had alleged that Rashid had hosted scores of Kashmiri militants at his residence.
Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has cast doubts on President Pervez Musharraf's ability to prevent extremists from getting hold of the country's nuclear arsenal. "General Musharraf says that he is in firm control of the nuclear arsenal and the army is a very disciplined army but we have been facing chaos, growing chaos for some time," the former Pakistan prime minister said.
India Saturday asserted that demilitarisation or redeployment of security forces in Jammu and Kashmir was a sovereign decision of New Delhi and could not be dictated by any foreign government.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said that he was determined to remove his army uniform and hold the general election due by mid-January 'as close as possible to the schedule" despite the imposition of emergency in the country. "I am determined to execute this third stage of transition fully and I'm determined to remove my uniform once we correct these pillars in judiciary and the executive and the parliament," he said while explaining the reasons for emergency.
Pakistan will go ahead with the multi-billion-dollar pipeline Iran-Pakistan-India project to carry Iranian gas even if India decides not to join it, President Pervez Musharraf has said.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said elections would be held for a complete transition to democracy though he did not set a date for the polls.
Police lathicharged and arrested over a 1,000 lawyers who took to the streets across Pakistan on Monday in protest against the imposition of emergency even as rumours that President Pervez Musharraf had been put under house arrest swept the country.
Musharraf assured the delegation that any resolution of the Kashmir issue will be finalised only after ascertaining the wishes of the the Kashmiri people. \n
"The US should take the lead, with other world powers, in putting maximum pressure on Musharraf to return to democracy. I think it's not enough that Secretary Rice speaks out. The president has to speak out, and in more specific terms. We have bolstered Musharraf with billions of dollars in recent years, and military support, and we ought to be specific that it's not going to continue," Republican Senator Arlen Specter said.
The president's son, Bilal Musharraf, who works in the US, flew down to Islamabad as his wife gave birth to a boy in a private hospital on Thursday.
"The imposition of martial law will lead to the downfall of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. He will have to lose power to pay the price for siding with America," said Hamid Mir, the political editor of Geo television channel, in a telephonic conversation with rediff.com.
The officials had manhandled Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March, soon after he was removed as chief justice by President Musharraf.
With pressure piling up on Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf, the former military ruler has decided in principle to quit and will announce his decision in this regard on the country's Independence Day on August 14, a media report has said.
Notwithstanding Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf terming as "intriguing" India's comment on Balochistan, New Delhi Sunday asserted there was nothing wrong in reacting to the "serious situation" in the neighbouring country.
A bomb exploded near the official residence of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, killing at least six people and leaving several injured.
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.
Among the trophies in the living room are the epaulettes of Brig Mohammad Atif, Sitar-e-Pakistan and Commander of Mynamati, who surrendered on December 17.
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.
Norway had in the past expressed its wish to mediate between India and Pakistan and was willing to do so if both sides wanted it.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif will not return to the country before the general elections, President Pervez Musharraf has said. The president exuded confidence that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League will return to power, saying the next prime minister will be from the PML. Musharraf was addressing about 170 legislators of the party, including federal ministers, at a dinner at the prime minister's House.
As troops fanned out in Pakistan's north-western province to counter activities of a pro-Taliban cleric, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said the main threat to the country's national security is "internal" with a handful of extremists out to disrupt law and order.
The United States has praised Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for his role in the war on terror, but said that Islamabad had not been successful in closing down the terror network in restive tribal areas on the Afghan border.
Talks between aides of President Pervez Musharraf and former premier Benazir Bhutto on forming a caretaker set-up to supervise Pakistan's general elections have been stopped by the government till the Supreme Court decides on the military ruler's re-election in uniform.
"Whatever the solution is, certainly the people of the region need to have a voice in it, however the two sides choose to resolve it," McCormack added.
In tune with the "enlightened moderation" philosophy being advocated by President Pervez Musharraf, drastic changes are being made in school textbooks.
Addressing a news conference in Srinagar, Geelani rejected outright Musharraf's four-point solution to the vexed Kashmir issue.
Musharraf and Aziz had both asked the Pakistan People's Party chief to defer her homecoming and the government had said she faced a threat from pro-Taliban militants, especially rebel leader Baitullah Mehsud.
With the possibility of President Pervez Musharraf seeking re-election, a senior Pakistani minister has said the next president would be elected by the existing Parliament and Provincial Assemblies in September-October 2007.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that legal challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's re-election in uniform should be heard by a larger bench headed by the chief justice, adding to the uncertainty over a new five-year term for the beleaguered military ruler.
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