Pakistan will examine the issue of providing assistance to Ajmal Kasab, convicted by an Indian court for involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, only if he seeks such aid, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.
The reaction came a day after Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that India is providing funds for Taliban fighters located along the Afghanistan border for creating chaos in Pakistan.
India on Monday rejected the charge that it was fomenting unrest in Pakistan by funding Taliban fighters based along the border with Afghanistan.
Ahead of their crucial World Cup semi-final against India, Pakitani cricketers have been warned not to indulge in any match-fixing by Interior Minister Rehman Malik who said he was keeping a 'close watch' on their activities.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said "We have been continuously accused (of involvement in the Mumbai attacks by India) ... enough is enough." "If we talk about composite dialogue, they should not consider it our weakness at all. We are a nuclear state and not so weak. We better know how to retaliate," he added.
Hours after a suspected Taliban suicide bomber detonated his vehicle in Peshawar killing 49 people, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday said the government had no option but to strike back on the militant stronghold of south Wazirstan."We have no other option but to carry out an operation in south Wazirstan," the interior minister told a private television channel after the attack.
British Defence and Home Ministers will arrive in Islamabad on Monday for meetings with the top Pakistani leadership to take stock of the regional security situation and the war against terror.
Facing intense pressure from the United States to act against militants thriving in its restive tribal region, Pakistani has blamed India and Afghanistan for stirring trouble in its northwestern areas and Balochistan province.Ruling Pakistan People's Party leader Rehman Malik, who functions as the interior minister and is a confidant of party chief Asif Ali Zardari, appealed to Pakistan's western allies, including the US, to stop India and Afghanistan's alleged activities.
Ruling out India's involvement, Pakistan on Thursday suspected al-Qaeda to be behind the audacious attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team as the investigators claimed to have identified the perpetrators.
In an interview to a private television channel, Malik claimed that extremists who were apprehended during raids in the Swat Valley have confirmed India's hand in terror activities inside Pakistan.
As Indo-Pak foreign secretaries met in Delhi for talks aimed at ending the chill in bilateral ties, Pakistan on Thursday claimed that 'Indian networks' were behind the terror attacks in Mumbai and on the Samjhauta Express and Indian Parliament. Without giving any evidence to substantiate the claims, Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed that a terrorist assault of the magnitude of the Mumbai terror attacks could not have been carried out otherwise.
Intercepts of militant communications have indicated that 28-year-old Mehsud had died after being wounded in a drone attack in Shaktoi area of Waziristan tribal region, Malik told the media after appearing in a court in Peshawar.
Pakistan has said that it did not rule out the involvement of "foreign hands" in the recent incidents of Karachi violence.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Thursday asked New Delhi and Washington to share any information they have about possible terrorist attacks in India by Pakistan-based militant groups.
Talking to media persons in Islamabad, Malik claimed that the military offensive being carried out in the North West Frontier Province's Swat and Malakand Divisions have been successful with the killing of top Taliban commanders.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday arrived to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Home Ministers' Conference and was personally received by his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik at the Chaklala airbase. Chidambaram arrived at the Chaklala airbase in the garrison city of Rawalpindi by a special aircraft. Malik, who will host his Indian counterpart later on Friday, went to the airbase to personally receive Chidambaram.
Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik has said the government would not allow banned outfits and parties to take out any rallies or advertise themselves.
A group of US nationals arrested in Pakistan over alleged terrorist links will not be deported until security agencies verify that they had not violated local laws, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday.
Even as the army battles Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's militants headed by Hakimullah Mehsud, the government has decided to adopt another approach to end the spate of terror strikes on its soil. As part of this strategy, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has urged religious scholars to issue fatwas against the Taliban militants, by terming them as kafirs (non-believers).
The petitions challenging the NRO had said the law violated fundamental rights as no government has the right to quash corruption cases. The petitioners also contended that the ordinance was contrary to the constitution and asked for it to be scrapped.
"The operation will continue till the last Taliban militant is eliminated," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told media persons at the Islamabad airport on his return from the US. Malik's remarks come as Pakistani army and fighter jets resumed their pounding of Taliban positions after a nine hour pause ordered to lead the trapped civilians reach safer areas.
Pakistan on Tuesday sternly told the Taliban to leave Buner and other areas occupied by them or face "forceful" action, as its troops killed 70 militants in the expanding army operations along the restive Afgan border. The warning that "a handful of militants cannot challenge the writ of the government," came from Interior Minister Rehman Malik as security forces stepped up operations in Dir in North West Frontier Province.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik has confirmed the arrest of one more suspect in the Mumbai terror attacks and asked India to provide more information to proceed against those detained for perpetrating the carnage.
Pakistan on Tuesday said the statement made to a magistrate by Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured for the Mumbai terror attacks, is crucial for the successful prosecution of suspects detained by it in connection with the incident.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said India considers Taliban as a dreaded terror outfit, and wants Pakistan to take action against it along with other groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
Investigators had not yet found any conclusive evidence to suggest that India was involved in recent terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team and a police training centre near Lahore, Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik has said.
'I am convinced. I have no doubt about it. I was very open. I have given the full details. If the interior minister of India or anyone else wants to confront me, I will be very happy to confront them because I know what I am saying.'
Iran has for long claimed that members of Jundullah, a Baloch Sunni militant group, are active in Pakistan's Balochistan province and get support from some intelligence officials there.
One of the terrorists arrested for Monday's attack on a police training centre in Lahore is an Afghan national, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said.
Pakistan on Thursday handed over its preliminary investigation report into the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers to the island nation, blaming it on a 'foreign hand' but admitting that it was a 'total security lapse'. The report revealed that the attack was planned in and financed by some foreign country and was carried out by militants from the South Waziristan tribal region. The report stated that the police had so far failed to arrest even a single attacker.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that India must share information it has regarding any future terror strike being planned against it, adding that New Delhi will have to bear the consequences if it refuses to do so.Malik said India must share information regarding any terrorist strike being planned against it in order to take tangible action against those plotting the attack.
"We have submitted all information available to us, but we want more information to make our case solid," Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, adding that in the absence of enough evidence, the court would exonerate Saeed for lack of authentic proof.
Pakistan on Friday claimed that the trial of Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives arrested for their involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks would be completed within four months, but also sought more time to examine the evidence provided by India against the terror group's founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
The meeting takes place a day after there was confusion over reports that Pakistani authorities have filed a case against Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the November 26, Mumbai attacks and 12 others in connection with the strikes but the government denied it.
The Taliban rejected Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik's claim that they had killed commander Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law and his kin on charges of espionage, while acknowledging they were in the militants' custody.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that government forces had foiled a planned terrorist attack on parliament and buildings of the intelligence agency and other federal institutions last month.
The Pakistan government has received "credible intelligence reports" confirming the death of local Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a drone attack and physical evidence is being collected to validate the claim, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Monday.
The dreaded Al-Qaeda is trying to install one of its commanders as the new "chief" of Pakistani Taliban, which it fears is in disarray, following the reported slaying of group's leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US missile strike.
Pakistan on Monday briefed foreign envoys on its response to the Mumbai terror attacks and its own probe into the information provided by India, as part of an effort to counter the diplomatic initiative launched by New Delhi. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and interior ministry chief Rehman Malik briefed the ambassadors and high commissioners of most foreign countries at the foreign office in Islamabad.
Observing that the "mishandling" of the issue of Ajmal Iman's nationality by the government had brought bad name to Pakistan, leading human rights activist Ansar Burney has demanded the immediate resignation of Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik.