The meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday could have positive spin-offs
Addressing media persons after their 40-minute one-on-one meeting, Zardari, in his short statement, said: "I am grateful to Dr Singh for inviting me for lunch even though I am on a private visit. We have had fruitful talks. During the meeting, we spoke on all issues possible. I hope to hold further talks soon with Dr Singh on Pakistani soil."
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.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of a major crackdown on lawyers and opposition party activists ahead of a nationwide protest.
Dr Singh's invitation to Pakistan's head of State and head of government is an important but risky gesture which could have political consequences, believes B Raman
Contrary to the contention of leading policy wonks in the United States and Pakistan and intelligence officials, Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman has asserted that the democratic civilian government led by the Asif Ali Zardari government, not the military, calls the shots in her country.
Pakistan's 14-member interim cabinet of caretaker premier Mir Hazar Khan Khoso was on Tuesday sworn-in by President Asif Ali Zardari with ministers drawn from all four provinces of the country. Zardari administered oath to the 14-member caretaker cabinet as one candidate stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony because he is serving in a government department.
Mir Hazar Khan Khoso was on Monday sworn in as Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister by President Asif Ali Zardari during a ceremony held at the presidency.
'He could indeed survive [the no confidence vote] even as he faces his biggest political test.'
The strict measures put in place by American authorities to screen air travellers from Pakistan have emerged as a major irritant in relations between the two countries, with President Asif Ali Zardari, on Friday, asking the US to review its new security policy.
Pakistan Peoples Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday returned to the country after spending over a week in Dubai but will not lead the party's campaign for the May 11 general election, one of his close aides said.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is intent on launching his son Bilawal's formal political career before the general election early next year though he will not achieve the minimum age of 25 for contesting polls till September 2013.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday said Pakistan is making "unprecedented efforts" to normalise ties with India even as he called on the world community to address challenges like the situation in Palestine and the Kashmir issue.
Pakistan wants a "constructive, sustained and result-oriented" engagement with India and is committed to peacefully resolving all outstanding bilateral issues, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday. Zardari made the remarks during a meeting with Pakistan's High Commissioner-designate to India and former foreign secretary Salman Bashir.
"We want ownership of the drone. Democracy doesn't believe in half measures," Zardari told newsmen in London when asked about reports that US has agreed to hand over control of drone aircraft to Islamabad.
Pakistan on Monday freed 48 Indian fishermen from a jail in the southern port city of Karachi as a goodwill gesture and sent them to the Wagah land border crossing to be repatriated to India.
Governor of the Punjab province Salman Taseer has asked Pakistan president Asif Zardari to direct the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to boycott its 2011 World Cup matches in India. A powerful political figure and an influential businessman, Taseer has sent a letter to Zardari asking him to direct the PCB to shun its World Cup matches in India.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Monday got a three-week reprieve from Pakistan's Supreme Court in a contempt of court case after judges accepted his plea for being given more time to address the issue of reopening graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Pakistan on Wednesday once again raked up the Kashmir issue in the United Nations when its President Asif Ali Zardari sought a solution to the issue under an UN resolution. He said Kashmir remains a symbol of the failure of the UN system and Pakistan's principled position on territorial disputes remains the bedrock of its foreign policy.
Pakistani security agencies on Thursday arrested two suspects involved in the car bomb blast outside the house of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) Hafiz Saeed, an official said.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari plans to not only disband the political wing of the spy agency but also make it accountable to his country's parliament, reports Amir Mir
When the prime minister met President Zardari in Tehran, 26/11 was clearly on the Indian leader's mind. Nikhil Lakshman reports from the Iranian capital.
The border village of Sarabjit Singh in Punjab erupted in joy on Thursday following his imminent release from Pakistan with his family calling it a 'relieving' moment and an act of kindness from President Asif Ali Zardari.
After being on the death row for 20 years over bombing charges, Indian national Sarabjit Singh is being released with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday commuting his death sentence.
A Pakistani court on Monday constituted a larger bench to hear a contempt of court petition against President Asif Ali Zardari while a lawyer filed a plea in the supreme court challenging the president's immunity and holding of dual offices.
President Asif Ali Zardari has assured the United States that the Pakistan government will not allow anybody to challenge its writ or run a parallel administration in any part of the country. Zardari gave the assurance to US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke during a telephonic conversation, the Daily Times reported on Friday.
Unites States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken to President Asif Ali Zardari to share with him the vision of President Barack Obama's administration and its policies towards the region and Pakistan.During a brief telephone conversation with Zardari on Thursday night, Clinton discussed the situation in the region and Pakistan-US relations.Zardari congratulated Clinton on assuming the post. He also welcomed Obama's desire to seek 'a new way forward' with Muslims.
Pakistan's national interests will be the basis for a decision on reopening the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply routes to Afghanistan that were closed last year, President Asif Ali Zardari has said.
US drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas are counter-productive as they violate the country's sovereignty and result in civilian casualties which cause deep resentment and fuel militancy, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday.
Pakistani authorities have foiled a plot to attack parliament during President Asif Ali Zardari's address to a joint sitting of the two houses and arrested several terrorists and an employee of the foreign ministry, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday. The terrorists had planned to attack Parliament when Zardari was addressing a joint session of the National Assembly and Senate on March 17, Malik said.
Rehman Malik, senior advisor to Pakistan prime minister on internal affairs, was on Friday sworn in as a federal minister by President Asif Ali Zardari following his re-election to the Senate weeks after he was forced to step down for his alleged British citizenship.
In a speech to leaders from countries in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, Zardari said that the November 26 incident in which 24 of his soldiers were killed in a cross border firing was a "set back" that forced his government to review its engagement and cooperation with them.
Pakistan is abuzz with rumours that the country's all-powerful military may topple the fragile government in Islamabad within next 48 hours.
Virtually rejecting the Pakistan Supreme Court's directive to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said he would rather go to jail for committing contempt of court than violate the Constitution.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday insisted that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani should write to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, saying no one is above the law.
A guest present at Dr Singh's lunch for President Zardari tells Sheela Bhatt what happened during the meal.
What Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari really discussed at their meeting. Sheela Bhatt reports
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has agreed to visit Pakistan on the invitation of Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
In a U-turn, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said there is still no 'real evidence' that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai came from Pakistan nor had it been established that the lone arrested attacker Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab hailed from the country's Punjab provinceZardari, who earlier acknowledged that the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage of November 26 could be 'non-state actors' from Pakistan, made these remarks.
Pakistan's political circles were abuzz on Wednesday with speculation about the recall of ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani in the wake of media reports on secret communications between Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and the American administration to avert a possible military takeover.
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