Expressing confidence in the leadership of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a top Republican leader has said the $10 billion in aid given to the country by the United States since 2001 was money "well spent".
"It is my hope that, coupled with international pressure, the language in H.R.1 will convince President Musharraf to take immediate action against the Taliban militants in his country," the senior lawmaker in the House of Representatives said.
'The Opposition -- they have all along these five years tried to destabilise me and the government. We do not want agitation here. We are going in for politics; we do not want agitational politics. That cannot be allowed. So, therefore, if anyone is trying to do that, we will stop it.'
"People in India and Pakistan have come to a situation where they want peace, and military solution is no longer possible," Musharraf told reporters in Abu Dhabi at the conclusion of his two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.
The Hurriyat delegation, also comprising Abdul Gani Bhat and Bilal Lone, was slated to return on January 24.
The Pakistan President said besides cricket both the countries should also play more sports like hockey to retain their prime position of the past.
Pakistan's Election Commission on Saturday confirmed President Pervez Musharraf's re-election for a five-year term and the military ruler is expected to take oath after doffing his uniform on November 29. The new Supreme Court on Friday validated his re-election on October 6 which had been marred by an Opposition boycott and asked the Election Commission to notify the result.
The Pakistani leader will also meet with other Chinese leaders during his visit starting from February 19 to 23, he told reporters at a bi-weekly news conference.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the last petition challenging President Pervez Musharraf's re-election.
Pakistan will ask the international community to help resolve it if India does not come up with its own ideas.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, reiterated on Tuesday that the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons is not under any threat in spite of the current political crisis in that country. Mullen added that President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency didn't have any significant impact on the US-led global war on terror in Afghanistan.
The Hurriyat leaders were also prepared for talks with New Delhi before the visit.
Musharraf said he gives proposals but India does not give any counter-proposals.
Upping the ante, former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto Tuesday asked Pervez Musharraf to quit as President saying the days of dictatorship in Pakistan were over. "We say Musharraf must leave. The time for dictatorship is over. It's time to bring a transfer to democracy," Bhutto told Britain's Sky News in a telephonic interview from Lahore, where police have placed her under house arrest to stop her from leading an anti-emergency rally to Islamabad.
The European Union should adopt a "balanced" approach on the Kashmir issue and play an "active" role in dispute resolution between India and Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf said on Wednesday.
The United States on Thursday said that President Pervez Musharraf has not taken its advice not to impose emergency in Pakistan. "President Musharraf oversees a sovereign nation, and we urged him not to take this step of establishing a state of emergency. He did not take our advice. We consider it a setback because it was outside of the constitution, calling that state of emergency," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.
Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Tuesday said that the current emergency in Pakistan will prove to be the 'shortest ever' in the history of the country as it would be lifted within a few weeks. Hussain claimed that his advice to impose emergency was ignored months ago and hundred of deaths could have been avoided if the step was taken earlier. The emergency, imposed on Saturday by Musharraf, would be lifted within a few weeks.
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer from her home in Karachi, when asked if she feared that she was also about to be arrested among several other opposition figures in Pakistan, Benazir said, "I hope that Gen Musharraf won't take that stand, but I can't rule it out."
He said Muslim nations needed to work for reconciliation with the world.
Reports in a section of the media on Tuesday said India's envoy S K Lambah had held 'back-channel' talks with his Pakistani counterpart Tariq Aziz.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha has asked Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to dismantle terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Pakistan's foreign office spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said Manmohan Singh had accepted a longstanding invitation to visit Pakistan though he has never committed to any date.
"Natwar Singh will visit Pakistan at the invitation of the Pakistani government," Kasuri said at Haveli Lakha in Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday.
He credited the change in perceptions beween the neighbouring countries to the major role played by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
"We are aware of the anxiety of the government. I assure you that the case will be decided next week," said Justice Javed Iqbal, the head of the 11-member bench that is hearing five petitions opposing Musharraf's candidature in the presidential poll on the ground that he had not quit the post of Army Chief. The military ruler cannot be sworn in till the apex court rules on the petitions, and this has prolonged the political uncertainty in the country.
Former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto said she does not blame the government for the terrorist attack on her homecoming parade in Karachi.
From a Pakistan-trained militant to one of the prominent separatist faces in Kashmir, life has come a full circle for chief of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik, who was in limelight for varied reasons over the past three decades of turmoil in the erstwhile restive border state.
The Pakistani batsman received a staggering Rs 65 lakh in cash awards and a car for his performance in 2006.
As Pakistan heads for a political transition, India on Tuesday made it clear that it will deal with whosoever is in power in the neighbouring country.
Aides of President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto will be holding a final round of talks in the United Arab Emirates from Tuesday to "devise a strategy for the coming general election," a media report said. The talks were earlier scheduled after Eid-ul-Fitr, but after Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and PML-N president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain ruled out any truck with the PPP for the polls, the meetings were urgently arranged.
British and the US diplomats have met with leaders of a political party long at odds with Bhutto and encouraged it to show restraint when she returns to Karachi on October 18, according to The Independent.
The mosque in the heart of Islamabad was reopened after remaining closed for three months in the wake of the military operation that left more than 100 people dead.
"Pakistan seeks peaceful resolution of all issues with India, including the longstanding Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Success in this endeavour would usher in a new era of peace and prosperity in South Asia."
The organisation "extended" its support to the "inalienable right" of people of Jammu and Kashmir for "self-determination" in accordance with UN resolutions.
As for the decision of who fills what post, that's going to be up to the Pakistani government and ultimately the people to decide, the US said.
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