The “victory” celebration after the calling off of the Long March was still going on when a suicide-bomber struck at the Pirwadhai bus station in Rawalpindi, killing 14 people. The immediate speculation was that the suicide bomber was despatched to hit the Long March itself since it was to pass near where the terrorist finally […]
WASHINGTON: The United States not only used the threat of an aid cut to defuse a potentially explosive situation in Pakistan but also had doubts about the Zardari government’s ability to fight terrorism, US officials and lawmakers said on Tuesday. Senator Patrick J. Leahy, who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds US foreign aid […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The promised reinstatement of Pakistan’s chief justice defused a protest movement threatening the U.S.-allied government, but it could still spell trouble for the country’s struggling president. The army is said to have directed President Asif Ali Zardari to defuse the developing showdown with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and lawyers leading a column […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — It was a signal moment in Pakistan’s political development: A huge demonstration forced the restoration of a dismissed chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a symbol of democracy and the rule of law. The army did not stage a coup, but insisted that the government accept a compromise. The deal between President Asif […]
The preamble to the Constitution of Pakistan binds the state ‘to exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives’ who, in turn, are bound to fully observe ‘the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam’. The constitution is, thus, violated whenever martial law is imposed, which indeed it […]
Musadiq Sanwal reports live from Islamabad as the second lawyers’ Long March arrives in the capital. Meanwhile Muhammad Badar Alam, Bureau Chief of the Herald, provides the latest news from Lahore. While lawyers and political activists of the PML-N march on, they will have updates from the protests, the word on the street, and stories […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif is fanning provincialism in the country and only the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is an insignia of federation, Benazir Income Support Programme Chairwoman Farzana Raja said on Saturday. Talking to reporters, she said former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had started Rs 2 roti scheme in the […]
WASHINGTON: The United States regards as many as 70 per cent of the insurgents operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas as ‘reconcilable’ and the new US strategy for the region may reflect this, diplomatic sources in Washington told Dawn. On Friday, the Commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, and […]
WASHINGTON: Former president George W. Bush recast the US relationship with India, forging closer ties. Could President Barack Obama do the same for US policy towards its nuclear-armed rival Pakistan? Upon taking office January 20, Obama ordered a sweeping review of the US strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan, and US military and diplomatic […]
WASHINGTON: Former president George W. Bush recast the US relationship with India, forging closer ties. Could President Barack Obama do the same for US policy towards its nuclear-armed rival Pakistan? Upon taking office January 20, Obama ordered a sweeping review of the US strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan, and US military and diplomatic […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Army Chief Ashfaq Kayani is unlikely to launch a military takeover to end an ongoing political crisis threatening the one-year-old civilian government, according to the United States’ top military officer. ‘He is committed to a civilian government. He is committed to the democracy that’s there,’ Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs […]
NEW YORK: Overwhelmingly, Pakistanis are worried about the impact of extremism on their country and people, says a new survey conducted by PEW (IRI) global research. In 2008 72 per cent said they were concerned about Islamic extremism in their country, and over half — 54 per cent — said they were very concerned, the […]
LAHORE, Pakistan, March 13 — On one side of the provincial high court complex, a majestic red-brick monument to British colonial rule, it was business as usual Friday morning. Lawyers in black robes and white bibs rushed to hearings and conferred with clients, while clerks filled out legal petitions between sips of tea. On the […]
WASHINGTON: The United States seems eager not to criticise the Zardari government for its crackdown on opposition activists, although it also wants to appear neutral in the Zardari-Sharif imbroglio. On the judicial dispute, the United States still seems unwilling to support the demand for the restoration of judges despite a change of government in […]
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan — Police overwhelmed anti-government protesters Thursday in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, arresting opposition leaders and preventing several hundred lawyers and activists from leaving for a planned demonstration in Islamabad. The government of President Asif Ali Zardari contends that public gatherings could serve as a focal point for terrorists and otherwise endanger […]