Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The intensifying political battle between the pro-American president and the main opposition leader is shaping up as a potential crisis for the Obama administration as it tries to focus the government on fighting the Qaeda and Taliban insurgency here. The domestic struggle will almost certainly deflect attention from that fight as President […]

Pakistan’s ex Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification came as a shock to everyone. It is especially sad that he was disqualified during democratic transitional time in Pakistan. However, what followed was even more disgusting then the news of Sharif’s disqualification. As soon as the information of Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif’s disqualification […]

ISLAMABAD: The chief of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will visit Pakistan next week to discuss the probe into last year’s Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday. “We understand that they have helped India in their ongoing investigations and we hope they will assist us by way of providing […]

The PMLN’s policy of not recognising the “PCO Supreme Court” anticipated its decision to reject the verdict the Supreme Court reached Wednesday to disqualify the Sharif brothers. The deposed chief justice, Mr Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was able to say in Dera Ghazi Khan that “the Court forfeits its legitimacy by issuing verdicts that are against […]

WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s foreign minister said Wednesday that his country has asked the United States to provide unmanned planes that would allow Pakistan to strike extremists hiding in rugged terrain along the Afghan border. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in an Associated Press interview with reporters and editors that Pakistan, and not the United States, […]

WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday pledged close strategic consultations with Pakistan on plans for the high-stakes region along the Pak-Afghan border. The pledge came after a meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the State Department – marking the formal start of a three-way American policy […]

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is on a rapid trajectory to failure as a stable, democratic state and needs a boost of $4 billion in US aid and loans each year to begin turning around, a private foreign affairs group has concluded. “Time is running out,” said the Atlantic Council, which urged more training and deployment of 15,000 […]

Recently, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani lauded the role Sufi Islam could play in keeping the society away from religious extremism. Lest we consider this a personal bias, since he represents the Sufi tradition himself, similar sentiments were expressed by others as well. One such example is the 2007 RAND Corporation paper, Building Moderate […]

The US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Mr Richard Holbrooke, has told a meeting in Washington that the “militants involved in 9/11, the Mumbai attacks and unrest in Swat have common roots” and that “the US was troubled and confused about the development in the Swat valley”. Some other reports appearing in the press […]

PESHAWAR: A curfew was imposed in Dera Ismail Khan on Friday and the army called in to quell riots immediately after a suicide bomber killed at least 30 Shias and injured another 157 who were attending a funeral in southern Dera Ismail Khan district, police and locals told Daily Times. Witnesses said police ‘ran off’ […]

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: Pakistan would make a formal request to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month for an additional loan of $4.5 billion, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin said on Thursday. “I will visit the Washington offices of the IMF in March to make a formal request for more […]

ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday dismissed as speculative the growing criticism of the accord signed with the Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi for introduction of Nizam-i-Adl in Malakand, warning speculations would not be helpful. ‘Establishing peace, security and stability are matters of highest priority for Pakistan government and it will use all necessary means to achieve these […]