Sunday 28 June 2009 Taliban Losses Are No Sure Gain for Pakistanis
The Pakistani military has claimed success in the Swat Valley, but the stability may be threatened by the militants’ decision to flee, possibly to return later.
Wednesday 10 June 2009 At least 11 people have been killed and several dozen injured in a bomb blast at a luxury hotel in Pakistan. Police say gunmen stormed into the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar on Tuesday night shortly before the blast. The explosion is the latest in a string of attacks in Pakistani cities in recent weeks. Officials say the attacks are in retaliation for a military offensive against Taliban militants in the Swat Valley in the northeast.
Sunday 31 May 2009 Pakistan's military says it's regained control of the largest city in the Swat valley from the Taliban. A senior official says Mingora is under full military control. Fighting intensified a week ago as the army strengthened its presence in the town, conducting house-to-house searches for Taliban militants. Pakistan launched its offensive against the Taliban after a peace deal broke down earlier this month. More than 2 million people have fled the region, and an unknown number of militants and civilians have died. Journalists have been banned from the area.
Friday 29 May 2009 Three deadly bomb attacks shook Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar today. In one attack, two bombs exploded at a crowded market, killing at least eight people and wounding about 100 others. Police exchanged gunfire with suspects on rooftops, killing two and arresting two others. The second bomb attack targeted a police vehicle, killing one officer and injuring 15 others. In the third explosion, a suicide bomber killed three soldiers at a paramilitary checkpost. The attacks came one day after a suicide bomb killed 24 people and injured 300 in Lahore. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Lahore attack, calling it revenge for the army's offensive in the northwest Swat Valley. The Taliban threatened more attacks.
Monday 25 May 2009 Pakistan's air force conducted more bombing raids on Sunday against Taliban militants in the Swat Valley. On Saturday, government forces engaged in street battles with the Taliban in the city of Mingora. To date, more than two million people have been driven from their homes by the fighting, forced to live with relatives elsewhere, in public buildings, or in vast tent cities. The military is hoping to regain control of the Swat Valley from the Taliban so that the refugees can return home.
The leaders of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan held a rare summit in Tehran on Sunday. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played host to Asif Ali Zardari and Hamid Karzai. Reports say Iran's president criticized the presence of foreign forces in the region. Iran's state broadcaster said they were to discuss security issues, the reconstruction of Afghanistan and the drug trade. The discussions coincided with Paksitan's efforts to rein in militants in the north of the country near the Afghan border.
Sunday 24 May 2009 Pakistani security forces moved into the main city in the Swat Valley, Saturday. A military spokesman claims at least 17 Taliban fighters have been killed, in fierce street fighting in Mingora. The military launched their offensive in the Swat Valley and neighbouring districts, earlier this month to stop the spread of a Taliban insurgency. Officials say about one-point-seven million people have been forced out of their homes by the fighting, and another 200-thousand remain trapped in the area.
Thursday 21 May 2009 ISLAMABAD: CANADA WEIGHS END OF EMBARGO AGAINST PAKISTAN
Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay says Canada is considering ending an 11-year embargo on the sale of military technology to Pakistan. Canada cut off military supplies to Pakistan in 1998 after that country conducted a nuclear weapons test following one carried out by neighbouring India. But Mr. MacKay is now saying that he's impressed with Pakistan's campaign against Taliban rebels in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan. He says Pakistan would like a chance to buy Canadian products such as flight simulators, night-vision goggles and unmanned aircraft. Mr. MacKay, who's currently in Pakistan, also announced this week that Canada would restart a training program for Pakistani officers.
OTTAWA, ISLAMABAD: MILITARY CO-OPERATION WITH PAKISTAN RESUMES
Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay says his country will resume the military co-operation that Ottawa ended after Pakistan conducted its first nuclear test in 1998. Mr. MacKay said during his current visit to Pakistan that the officer exchange program could resume this fall, taking the form of "seminars and lectures." The minister is in Islamabad for talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Ahmad Mukhtar. Last week, Mr. MacKay described Pakistan as the world's most dangerous country because of its instability. The Canadian government has long worried about Taliban activity along the border with Afghanistan, where Canada has deployed 2,700 troops. Pakistan is also trying to cope with Islamic militants with connections to al-Qaeda. Last week, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said there is evidence that Pakistan is increasing its nuclear weapons systems and warheads. The Canadian minister said he received no confirmation that this is the case. Pakistan is thought to possess more than 60 nuclear weapons.
22 May 2009 13:4 OTTAWA: OPINIONS DIFFER ON PAKISTAN THREAT
The military and their minister may have differing views on the level of threat posed by instability within Pakistan, which Defence Minister Peter MacKay visited this week. Two weeks ago, the minister said that Pakistan had become the most dangerous country on earth because advancing Taliban insurgents threaten the security of the country's nuclear arsenal. But an internal department document obtained by the Canadian Press says that "command and control arrangements are credible and have centralized authority...in the hands of senior government officials and the military." The documents explain that the weapons are stored disassembled in deep underground bunkers and that the fission cores are removed and kept separately from the non-nuclear explosive detonators. Moreover, the report says that the nuclear warheads are kept far from the missiles and planes meant to deliver them. A spokesman for Mr. MacKay reacted by pointing out that the analysis was a year old and that the minister had referred to the worsening violence and instability in tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan. Earlier in the week, Mr. MacKay evoked the possibility that Canada might end its 11-year embargo against weapons sales to Pakistan, which prompted the foreign affairs department to take the unusual step of denying there is any such intention.
Tuesday 19 May 2009 The U.S. defence department says it is preparing to fly in supplies of food, water and tents to help almost 1.5 million Pakistanis who have been displaced by the fighting between their country's militant and Taliban insurgents in the northwest of the country. The department also says a request for aid from the Pakistani government is pending and that its final details are being worked out. This is the fourth week of the military offensive against the insurgents, with infantry waging street battles in towns of Swat Valley.
Monday 18 May 2009 Pakistan Is Rapidly Adding Nuclear Arms, U.S. Says
There are new concerns on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program.
Wed 13 Apr 2009 Pakistan- a bad situation badly handled from Wed1419
The situation is slipping out of control. With last week’s meeting in Washington of the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the world is more than ever focused on what President Obama terms the fragile government of Pakistan and its inability to deliver the basic services necessary to build a strong civil society and gain the support of the people, which he believes is an even greater danger than vulnerability of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal to the insurgent Taliban forces. China, however has become a very big player in the area and is already engaging in cooperation with Bangladesh. The education system has been changed and today the madrassa is considered equivalent to traditional secular schooling and qualification for employment in the civil service, or the military. This has shifted the nature of the Punjabi- controlled Pakistan military, of which something like 60% has only a madrassa education - thus, much of the Islamist support is actually to be found within the ranks of the military and the insurgency is far greater and more dangerous than appreciated. This situation is bound up with Afghanistan and further complicated by the role of Pashtun in the two countries. Iran’s position is also shifting because of its relationship to Afghanistan. India, meanwhile is doing what it can to protect itself from threats from Pakistan and appears to be encouraging Pashtun nationalism wihin its own borders.
Sunday 17 May 2009 At least 11 people were killed and 30 others were wounded in a car bomb blast on Saturday in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The explosion hit a passing school bus. Four children were among the dead. On the same day, a suspected U.S. drone attack in North Waziristan killed at least 10 people. The missile hit a religious school and a vehicle in a town near the Afghan border.
Saturday 16 May 2009 Pakistan's army readied a major assault to rid Mingora, the main town in the Swat Valley, of entrenched Taliban militants, who the military said Friday were shaving their beards in order to mingle undetected with fleeing civilians. The government relaxed a curfew to allow thousands of refugees to leave with whatever possessions they could carry ahead of what is expected to be bloody fighting. The army and witnesses have said the militants have dug trenches and laid mines to repel an assault. Pakistan began operations in the valley and surrounding districts last month following intense U.S. pressure for action against extremists. The operation was launched after the militants pushed out from Swat to seize a district just 100 kilometres from the capital, Islamabad, under cover of the since-collapsed peace process.
Friday 15 May 2009 Thursday was the 19th day of the government's military offensive against Taliban rebels in the Swat Valley in the northwest. The army claimed soldiers killed 124 militants in the past 24 hours, with the loss of nine soldiers. The military also reports that fighter jets are bombing caves and other hideouts in the valley's northern mountains at Peochar, an area where Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah is suspected to have his stronghold. More than 834,000 non-combatants have now fled the fighting in the valley, according to the UN. Together with the one-half-million who fled the area last year, the total now stands at 1.3 million refugees. The military launched its offensive on April 26 after Taliban fighters advanced out of Swat to within 100 kilometres of Islamabad.
Friday 15 May 2009 The military continued its offensive against Taliban insurgents in the northwestern area of Swat Valley on Wednesday. Residents told the Agence France Presse news agency that militants have planted mines and dug trenches and that the residents want the government to "pull us out of here." The military has deployed helicopters and fighter jets against the Taliban, with about 15,000 security forces confronted with 4,000 guerrillas. The UN, meanwhile, says about 170,000 more civilians have registered as refugees after fleeing the government offensive, making a total of about 670,000.
Wednesday 13 May 2009 Pakistan conflict map Research by the BBC Urdu's service into the growing strength of Taleban militants in north western Pakistan shows that only 38% of the area remains under full government control.Tuesday 12 May 2009 PAKISTAN MOST DANGEROUS COUNTRY: FM
Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay calls Pakistan the world's most dangerous country and says he's "extremely concerned" by the political situation there. The minister says it will remain challenging to establish peace in Afghanistan until the Taliban insurgency both there and in Pakistan are checked. The minister predicted, however, that the cutting of the Taliban supply chain and the addition of 17,000 U.S. reinforcements will make Afghanistan more secure, particularly in the Kandahar region where Canada's 2,800-member contingent is deployed. The Pakistani military launched an offensive two weeks ago after the Taliban in control of Swat Valley in the northwest sought to impose their rule on adjoining areas.
Sunday 10 May 2009 The government has ordered its military to eliminate Taliban insurgents as air and ground forces pounded as many as 7,000 insurgents in the northwestern Valley of Swat. The fighting between the two sides is the most severe since a peace accord between the militants and the government in February which was ostensibly aimed at convincing the Taliban to lay down their arms, which never occurred. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in a television address to the nation that Pakistanis must unite against extremists, who he claimed are threatening the country's sovereignty. The governor of North West Frontier Province, meanwhile, has said that 150,000 residents have fled the fighting and are living in temporary conditions. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, meanwhile, continued their visit to Washington. The U.S. special envoy to their region, Richard Holbrooke, says there will be a trilateral summit after the Afghan presidential election in August. The two visitors met with the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee, a day after they promised President Barack Obama they would work together to defeat the Taliban. Mr. Karzai and Mr. Zardari have been criticized for failing to make a greater effort to defeat their respective insurgents.
Sunday 10 May 2009 The army formally announced on Friday that it is conducting an offensive against Islamic militants in the northwestern Valley of Swat, but warns that it faces thousands of Taliban militants who have seized towns, planted bombs and enlisted child suicide bombers. The army says it will eliminate "militants, miscreants and anti-state elements from Swat," who are said to be fleeing and preventing civilians from fleeing. The army claims to have killed more than 140 militants on Friday, two soldiers having been killed as well. The UN says the latest fighting has created 500,000 refugees.
Friday 08 May 2009 President Barack Obama says that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai gave him full assurance that they share the concern of the U.S. about the Taliban insurgencies in their countries. The visitors met him at the White House, and also saw U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the state department. Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Karzai and Mr. Zardari gave specific commitments regarding how they intend to step up the fight against militants. There was also discussion of a U.S. bombing in Afghanistan in which civilians died in circumstances that remain to be elucidated. Back in Pakistan's Swat Valley in the northwest of the country, the military says it has launched an attack on 7,000 entrenched Taliban fighters and have killed dozens of them.
Friday 08 May 2009 (01:42) Report Pakistan's 'eliminate' Taliban plan
May 8. - Pakistan's government has ordered its army to 'eliminate fully' militants, setting the stage for a major offensive against Taliban fighters in a northwestern valley.
Wednesday 06 May 2009 The government of North West Frontier Province says that as many as half-a-million residents of the Swat Valley could flee the worsening violence between government troops and the Taliban. The Islamist group declared an end to its three-month peace accord with the government, accompanied by the introduction of Sharia law last month. The Taliban claim to be in control of 90 per cent of the valley. The government signed the accord expecting it would encourage the insurgents to lay down their arms, which they haven't done. In Washington, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari gave assurances that the Taliban don't present a threat to his government's survival, interpreting the insurgency in an interview with the CNN cable television network as another chapter in Pakistan's long-running tribal and ethnic conflicts. He also insists that his country's nuclear arsenal is safe.
Wednesday 29 April 2009 SWITZERLAND
Local officials and humanitarian workers warn that the recent fighting in North West Frontier Province has caused as many as one million displaced people. The claim was made before a meeting with relief agencies and donor countries in Geneva. The Pakistani local officials present said the area needs international aid desperately. The organizer of the event, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, noted that the official UN figure for the displaced is 500,000 but that once the group completes a census the number could rise to one million, one of the world's biggest displacements. International donors last month pledged more than $5 billion in aid to stabilize Pakistan.
Monday 27 April 2009 60 Miles From Islamabad
Washington can not waste more time enabling Pakistan’s denial of the mortal threat that the Taliban poses to the country’s fragile democracy.
Sunday 26 April 2009 A bomb has killed 12 children in northwestern Pakistan who mistook it for a toy. Four other people were injured. The children were playing in the Low Dir region, an area littered with unexploded bombs left by militants during their war with Soviet troops in the 1980s. Seven of the victims were from the same family. The bomb resembled a football. The Low Dir region was recently put under strict Islamic law after a controversial deal that the government made with Taliban militants.
Wednesday 15 April 2009 President Asif Ali Zardini has signed into law an accord that puts Malakand district, including the Swat Valley, under Islamic Sharia law. The move formalizes an agreement between the government and a pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, who led thousands of his followers to fight the Pakistani government as well as U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The interior ministry says the government hopes that under the accord militants will surrender their arms. Critics including the U.S. government say they fear the accord will lead to the "Talibanization" of wide areas of the country. Previous agreements between the government and the Taliban have quickly unravelled.
Sunday 05 April 2009 Police in Pakistan are piecing together a tale of horror involving illegal migrants who were found dead inside a shipping container. The bodies of at least 62 migrants were retrieved from the metal container. More than 40 other people were found alive, but many were taken unconscious to hospital. It's suspected that the victims had suffocated and lain dead inside the container for a number of days. Most of the victims were Afghans. The container was opened near the border with Afghanistan. It was bound for Iran.
PAKISTAN
An American drone is suspected of having fired a missile at a home in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing 13 people. Unconfirmed reports said that women and children are among those killed. Pakistan has harshly criticized the drone strikes, saying that they violate the country's sovereignty and kill innocent civilians.
Thursday 02 April 2009 A suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft has fired two missiles at the alleged hideout of a top Taliban leader who threatened on Tuesday to attack the White House. Pakistani officials says the 12 people killed in the attack in Orakzai province near the border with Afghanistan included associates of Baitullah Mehsud, who made the threat against Washington. The drone attack against Orakzai is believed to be the first, although nearly three dozen other assumed attacks against militants along the border with Afghanistan have been recorded. The U.S. blames the militants for feeding the insurgency in that country.
Wednesday 01 April 2009 A top Pakistani Taliban commander says his group carried out a deadly assault on a police academy on Tuesday. Baitullah Mehsud also said the Taliban will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world. The group also claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed four soldiers on Monday.
Tuesday 31 March 2009
The Idiot's Guide to Pakistan Everyone in Washington is talking about Pakistan, but few understand it. Here’s how to dazzle the crowd at your next Georgetown cocktail party.
Tuesday 31 March 2009 Pakistani commandos on Monday raided a police academy near Lahore where militants had taken cadets hostage. The militants killed at least six cadets during a siege lasting several hours. As commandos staged their raid, three militants blew themselves up. Four militants were arrested. A group linked to al-Qaeda called the Fedayeen al-Islam took responsiblity for the attack. The violent incident was another dramatic challenge to Pakistan's civilian government.
Monday 30 March 2009 Taliban militants on Sunday kidnapped 11 Pakistani policemen at a security post on the Afghan border. The kidnapping in the Khyber region came two days after 37 people died in a suicide bombing on a mosque in the region. The militants have made no demands. A search for the missing officers has produced no results. Last year, militants stepped up attacks on supplies travelling through the Kyber Pass bound for Western forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Saturday 28 March 2009 US warns Pakistan on Taleban link
US military officials say elements in Pakistan's military intelligence service still have ties to the Taleban and al-Qaeda militants.
A suicide attacker exploded a bomb inside a crowded mosque in Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 48 people. At least 75 others were injured. The blast caused the two-storey mosque to collapse. Bystanders searched through piles of bricks for survivors. Among those inside the mosque in the town of Jamrud were police officers, paramilitary soldiers and government officials. Jamrud is near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. The attack came one day after a suicide bomber killed nine people at a restaurant in Pakistan's South Waziristan region. In the past few months, Taliban militants have increased their attacks in the region where supplies are transported through the Kyber Pass to Western military forces in Afghanistan.
Wednesday 25 March 2009 OTTAWA: CANADIAN HOSTAGE FEARS BEHEADING
A Canadian woman held hostage in Pakistan says that unless her Taliban captors receive a ransom, she'll be beheaded. Beverly Giesbrecht is seen in a video on the Internet. Looking tired and speaking with difficulty, she said that she could be executed within the next two weeks. She made reference to a Polish engineer who was beheaded by militants in Pakistan last month. Earlier reports said that her captors are demanding US$375,000. Miss Giesbrecht was a freelance journalist working for the Al-Jazeera network when she was kidnapped four months ago while travelling in Pakistan near the Afghan border. In 2001, she converted from Christianity to Islam. Canada's foreign affairs department has declined to comment on the video.
Sunday 22 March 2009 US 'needs new Pakistan strategy'
US strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent years has failed, Pakistan's foreign minister tells the BBC.
Tuesday 17 March 2009 The opposition to the government of President Asif Ali Zardari has called off a massive public march that was to have arrived in Islamabad on Monday. The main opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, welcomed the development, which occurred after the government accepted an opposition demand that judges dismissed by former military leader Pervez Musharraf be reinstated. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in an address to the nation that the judges will be reinstated on March 21. The prime minister also ordered his officials to release all those arrested and to lift a ban on public demonstrations.
Monday 16 March 2009 Facing a worsening political crisis, Pakistan's government on Monday agreed to reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry as Supreme Court chief justice. Until now, President Asif Ali Zardari had rejected calls by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and a lawyers' group to restore the judge. Mr. Zardari dismissed Mr. Chaudhry in 2007, charging him with being too politicized. On Sunday, police fought battles with stone-throwing anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Lahore. The violence broke out after Mr. Sharif defied a government order for his house arrest. He joined the rally that was attended by many lawyers and members of the Jamaat-e-Islami religious party. Mr. Sharif called on supporters to march next on Islamabad. Political turmoil began last month when Pakistan's Supreme Court disqualified Mr. Sharif and his brother from elected office because of convictions dating back many years.
Friday 13 March 2009 Police prevented hundreds of demonstrators against the government from beginning a protest from Karachi driving north to Islamabad. Police trucks prevented a convoy of cars, buses and motorbikes from proceeding to the capital. Officers armed with clubs arrested the party's leaders. Another group of several hundred protesters proceeding from Quetta in the southwest had not been stopped by nightfall Thursday. Lawyers groups, members of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and several small political parties have planned a march that will culminate in a gathering at the Parliament building in Islamabad on Monday. The government of President Asif Ali Zardari has vowed to corral the protesters into a park outside the capital, forbidding them to mass there or elsewhere in downtown Islamabad. Among other demands, the protesters want Mr. Zardari to fulfil a promise to reinstate judges fired by former military leader Pervez Musharraf.
Thursday 12 March 2009 Lawyers and opposition activists will launch a protest march from the southern provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan that is expected in Islamabad on Monday. The government of President Asif Ali Zardari has banned rallies and detained hundreds of activists. The protesters will demand the reinstatement of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, whom former President Pervez Musharraf dismissed in 2007. Mr. Zardari has refused to reinstate him, some analysts suggesting that Mr. Chaudhry could annul an amnesty which Mr. Musharraf granted to the present president and his slain wife, Benazir Bhutto. The protest could destabilize the government at a time when the government is under pressure from Taliban militants and a sinking economy.
Thursday 12 March 2009 A court in Rome has sentenced a Pakistani shipowner, Ahmed Sheik Turab, to 30 years in prison for his role in the drownings of 283 illegal migrants in the Mediterranean in 1996. The resident of Malta was found guilty of having organized the journey of about 400 migrants from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. The migrants were transferred from one boat to another on a planned voyage between Sicily and Malta when the second boat started leaking and eventually most of the passengers drowned. The same court sentenced the Lebanese captain of one of the boats to 30 years in jail last April.
Wednesday 04 March 2009 Unknown gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Sri Lanka's cricket team after it arrived in in Lahore for a match on Tuesday, killing six police officers and injuring seven players, a Pakistani umpire and the British coach. None of the gunmen were killed in a 15-minute shootout at a traffic circle and all apparently escaped. The bus was struck by 25 bullets. Interior Minister Rehman Malik declined to speculate on the identities of the attackers but said Pakistan is "in a state of war," pledging to run terrorists out of the country. The governor of Punjab state said the shooters' methods resembled those of the terrorist who attack Mumbai last year. The Pakistani authorities have been struggling with a variety of Islamic fighters, some allied with the Taliban or al-Qaeda.
Thursday 26 February 2009 Secret U.S. Unit Trains Commandos in Pakistan
American military advisers are working in Pakistan to help its armed forces battle Al Qaeda and the Taliban in lawless tribal areas.
Thursday 26 February 2009 Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday barred the opposition leader and former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, from running for elected office. The decision is expected to lead to further political turmoil. The court also upheld a legal challenge against the election of Mr. Sharif's brother, Shahbaz Sharif, to a seat in the Punjab Assembly. As a result, Mr. Sharif cannot continue as head of the provincial government in the country's most populous and wealthy region.
Sunday 22 February 2009 A bomb killed one person and wounded two others in northwest Pakistan on Saturday. The remote-controlled bomb exploded near a fuel tanker on its way to NATO forces in Afghanistan. The tanker was on the main highway linking Peshawar city with a border crossing. The driver escaped injuries. A passer-by was killed and two local men were injured. Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents have carried out attacks on NATO vehicles and terminals outside the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Monday 16 February 2009 Pakistan Agrees to Enforce Islamic Law in Violent Region
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan government officials said they struck a deal on Monday to accept a legal system compatible with Shariah law in the violent Swat region in return for peace. The agreement contradicted American demands for the Pakistan authorities to fight harder against militants, and seemed certain to raise fears in Washington that a perilous precedent had been set across a volatile region where U.S. forces are fighting Taliban militants operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Saturday 14 February 2009 Pakistan and India are bickering over which of them has fully disclosed the facts surrounding the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November. Yesterday, Pakistan admitted for the first time that the terrorists partly planned the attack while on Pakistan's territory. Pakistan also said that it arrested several terrorists connected with the plot, including the alleged mastermind. Following Pakistan's admission, India's foreign minister urged Pakistan to dismantle what he called Pakistan's infrastructure of terrorism. In an angry response, Pakistan's foreign ministry accused India of failing to disclose all of the facts of its investigation into the Mumbai attacks. The attacks killed 165 people and wounded many others.
Friday 13 February 2009 Pakistan is trying to ease international concerns about the activities of the country's former top nuclear scientist. The scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, went free last week after spending five years under house arrest. In 2004, he suffered disgrace after confessing that he'd sold nuclear secrets to rogue states such as Iran, Libya and North Korea. Following his release, the United States and other countries expressed concern that he might resume selling secrets. But Pakistan's government says that Dr. Khan no longer has access to nuclear facilities.
Monday 09 February 2009
A bomb exploded near a Shi'ite muslim mosque in central Pakistan on Thursday, killing 15 people and wounding about 30 others. The blast in the city of Dera Ghazi Khan occurred as worshippers were approaching the mosque for prayers. No group has claimed responsibility. Various sectarian groups have regularly staged bombings and shootings in Pakistan.
Wednesday 04 February 2009 Western forces operating in Afghanistan suffered a setback Tuesday when suspected militants blew up a bridge in northwestern Pakistan's Khyber Pass, cutting a main supply route. The US military and NATO's Afghan force played down the impact of the attack, saying that their logistics were sufficient for their needs and that they have contingencies in place. A paramilitary officer supervising work to restore traffic through the affected area said his men were working on a bypass that would take vehicles across a dried-up stream past the bridge and back onto the road.
KYRGYZSTAN
Kyrgyzstan's president said Tuesday his country is ending US use of a key airbase that supports military operations in Afghanistan. The decision to end the US use of the Manas base could have potentially far-reaching consequences for US and NATO operations in Afghanistan. Kurmanbek Bakiyev made the announcement statement just minutes after Russia announced it was providing the poor Central Asian country with billions of dollars in aid.
Tuesday 03 February 2009 A missile attack has killed at least five people near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. The victims were described as militants. Pakistan officials suspect that the missiles were drones fired by US forces in Afghanistan. US forces made 30 cross-border missile attacks last year, saying that Pakistan is unable to control al-Qaeda and Taliban militants operating on
Wednesday 28 January 2009 Thousands of mourners took part on Tuesday in the burial of a prominent Shiite Muslim who was shot dead the day before by Sunni extremists in the southwestern city of Quetta. Gunmen on a motorbike killed Ghulam Hussain Yousuf, sparking violent protests in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's gas-rich Baluchistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran. Paramilitary troops searched the city for a second day, after 12 people were injured in protests on Monday.
Monday 12 January 2009 Six Pakistani soldiers and at least 40 Islamist militants were killed in the latest fighting near the Afghan border. The clashes occurred when hundreds of militants attacked Pakistani security forces in the military stronghold of Lakaro in the Mohmand tribal area. The area is known as a hub of Taliban and al-Qaeda activity.
Saturday 10 January 2009 For the 14th day, Israel on Friday launched attacks against Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza, defying a United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire. More than 50 air strikes were reported, killing at least 12 civilians. In all, some 800 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its assault to force Hamas to stop rocket attacks against Israeli territory.
Wednesday 07 January 2009 Pakistan says Indian allegations of links between Pakistani state agencies and the Mumbai attacks risk diverting attention from their joint efforts to fight terrorism. The statement Tuesday by Pakistan's information minister did not directly respond to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's charge that Pakistani authorities `must have had' a hand in the Mumbai siege. Mr. Singh said "some official agencies" in Pakistan had supported the gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai in November, killing 179 people, including two Canadians. Meanwhile, the lone surviving gunman from the Mumbai attacks was remanded in custody Tuesday for a further two weeks. Indian authorities have identified the suspect, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman, as a Pakistani national trained by the banned Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Monday 05 January 2009 A senior Pakistani official has told the Associated Press that an Islamic militant has confessed involvement in the terrorist attack against Mumbai last month and is providing information to the authorities. The official was confirming a report that appeared earlier Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal. The source said that two suspects are now co-operating with the authorities. The gunmen at Mumbai attacked 10 sites, including two luxury hotels, and killed 164 people. India, Britain and the U.S. says the attackers were Pakistanis and have demanded that the Pakistani government punish the perpetrators.
2008
Monday 29 December 2008 Leading Pakistani newspapers are warning the government against neglecting the battle against terrorism. The commentary in some of the Muslim nation's largest daily papers warn that Pakistan risks a rise in terrorist activity if it lets tensions with India divert its attention and troops away from battling Taliban and al-Qaida militants along the Afghan border. India and Pakistan, nuclear rivals, have been at odds since last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai that left more than 170 people dead, including two Canadians. India blamed the attacks on Muslim militants based in Pakistan. Since then, Pakistan has redeployed some troops close to the border and cancelled infantry units for others. However on Saturday, President Asif Ali Zardari said he does not want war with India and dialogue is still the best way to solve the current problems in the region. Meanwhile, more than 20 people were killed in a bomb blast at a polling station in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday. Police said the blast went off during a by-election for a provincial assembly seat near Buner, a remote mountainous town in North West Frontier Province, near the Swat Valley.
Sunday 28 December 2008 Pakistan again said Saturday it did not want war with India. The statement came as the international community tried to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours after Islamabad moved troops to the border on Friday. The United States and Russia led calls for calm in both Islamabad and New Delhi. Relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated in the month since the Mumbai attacks. India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of grieving Pakistanis thronged the tomb of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto on Saturday, mourning their beloved leader one year after her assassination.
Saturday 27 December 2008 The Associated Press news agency reports that Pakistan has begun moving thousands of troops toward the border with India. Unnamed officials cited by the agency say the troops are being diverted from tribal areas near Afghanistan where they had been deployed against Islamic terrorists. The diversion is presumably the result of regional tensions caused by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month which left 164 people dead and which India blames on Muslim militants based in Pakistan. India's foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, says Pakistan is trying to divert attention attention away from the presence in its tribal areas near Afghanistan of the militants.
Tuesday 16 December 2008 A Pakistani official has announced that an American missile has killed two militants and injured three others in an attack at the city of Miranshah, in the tribal area of North Waziristan. It's unclear whether the missile was fired by an unmanned aircraft or from Afghanistan. Residents told Agence France Presse that low-flying drones had been spotted in the area in the hours before the attack. The area is known as an al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold.
Monday 15 December 2008 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says that most serious terror plots under investigation in his country have links to al-Qaeda in Pakistan. The prime minister spoke in Islamabad where he announced a comprehensive anti-terror program between Britain and Pakistan. He spoke after talks with President, Asif Ali Zardari. The program will provide Pakistan with millions of dollars in funding and new scanning equipment. The British leader also held talks recently with India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh. India has blamed a Pakistan-based militant group for attacks on Mumbai last month that killed more than 170 people.
Monday 15 December 2008 Pakistan's foreign minister says that India has yet to provide proof for its accusations that the gunmen who attacked Mumbai last month came from Pakistan. All but one of the ten gunmen were killed by police. Indian police said on Saturday that the surviving gunman had written to the Pakistan High Commission in India to seek legal help. India has urged Pakistan to increase its pressure on terrorists operating on Pakistan soil. Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mohammed Qureshi, invites India to share any information about the Mumbai attack.
Tuesday 09 December 2008 Pakistani troops on Monday invaded a militant camp and arrested a suspected planner of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, Nov. 26-29. At least 11 other suspected militants were arrested after a shootout at a militants' camp on Sunday. In custody is Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, an alleged member of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba group. The Indian government claims that the 10 gunmen who killed 171 people in Mumbai were Pakistani members of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Friday 05 December 2008 Pakistan has promised US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it will take the necessary action against anyone on its territory found to have been involved in last week's attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai. The attacks killed killed 171 people, including two Canadians. President Asif Ali Zardari made the comment to Ms. Rice, who is in Pakistan after a visit to India to discuss the Mumbai attacks. The attacks were blamed on Pakistan-based extremists. Ms. Rice is trying to defuse any possible India-Pakistan tensions that could escalate. Mr. Zardari has repeatedly said his country was not responsible for the Mumbai bombings.
Monday 01 December 2008 A senior police officer in India says that he has testimony of Pakistan's connection to the murderous attacks in Mumbai last week. Joint Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria says that the only assailant captured by police revealed that he belonged to the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Nine other gunmen were shot dead. The government said on Sunday that 174 people were killed in the attacks, fewer than originally reported. Two of those killed were Canadians. Three hundred others were injured. India's national security advisor has resigned along with India's home minister. Both were criticized for failing to keep the public safe. The government has announced that it will increase the size and strength of the country's anti-terrorist forces.
Pakistan admits that its relations with India are seriously strained following allegations that the gunmen who attacked Mumbai had Pakistani links. President Asif Ali Zardari says that he's fully cooperating with India to find those responsible, but he denies that his government had any involvement in the attacks. At the same time, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, is warning India that if it mobilizes troops, Pakistan will answer in kind.
Sunday 30 November 2008 U.S. Intelligence Focuses on Pakistani Group
U.S. officials were finding evidence that Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group, was responsible for the Mumbai attacks.
Wednesday 26 November 2008 Strings attached
Pakistan gets $7.6 billion bail-out from the IMF
The IMF has approved a US$7.6bn bail-out for Pakistan. The programme is intended to restore macroeconomic stability and prevent Pakistan from defaulting on its external debt. But the emergency financing, which Pakistan was reluctant to seek except as a last resort, comes with significant strings attached.
Tuesday 25 November 2008 The death toll from a suicide bombing at a mosque in Pakistan's tribal region has risen to 12. A suicide bomber blew himself up on Thursday as worshippers were leaving evening prayers at a mosque 22 kilometres northwest of Khar, the main town of the Bajaur tribal region. The mosque was run by an anti-militant tribal elder, Haji Rehmatullah, who was also killed in the attack. Pakistani forces have been involved in ongoing fighting with al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants since a military operation was launched in Bajaur in August. Pakistan's tribal region became a safe area for hundreds of al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists who fled the Afghanistan after the Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001 by US led forces.
Sunday 16 November 2008 Pakistan will try to ease its economic problems with a multi-billion dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan will borrow US$7.6 billion. The IMF says that the loan agreement includes steps to protect the poor. The political opposition warned that the IMF will impose austerity measures that will hurt ordinary Pakistanis, most of whom are poor. Pakistan's foreign currency reserves have declined rapidly, threatening a run on the currency and default on the country's international debt. Pakistan and some others countries, including Hungary and Ukraine, are seeking IMF assistance in response to the global credit crisis.
Friday 14 November 2008 OTTAWA: CANADIAN REPORTER KIDNAPPED IN PAKISTAN
The Canadian foreign affairs department says it's working with the Pakistani government to check on reports that a Canadian journalist was abducted in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province. Department officials say they're working hard to find out more about 52-year-old Beverly Giesbrecht's fate and that Pakistani police are searching the region in the country's tribal area near the border with Afghanistan. On Wednesday, the Pakistani newspaper News International reported that Mrs. Giesbrecht, her translator and guide were seized by armed men while driving in a taxi. On Saturday, another Canadian journalist, Melissa Fung, was freed after being held hostage for 28 days. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reporter had been held in a hole in the ground, at times blindfolded and chained.
Wednesday 12 November 2008 The government says that suspected Taliban fighters have hijacked a convoy comprising 13 trucks near the Khyber Pass intended to U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan. A local government official reported that about 60 masked militants blocked the road at several points before overwhelming the convoy. The militants took the trucks and their drivers. Attacks on convoys moving toward Afghanistan with military supplies are common but that on Tuesday appears to have been particularly well organized. It risks further worsening relations between Pakistan and the U.S., which complains that the Pakistanis aren't doing enough to root out militants dug in along the border with Pakistan.
Pakistan to approach IMF for loan
A top Pakistani official says Islamabad will approach the International Monetary Fund for a loan in the next 10 to 15 days.
Tuesday 11 November 2008 Militants in northwestern Pakistan have hijacked 12 trucks carrying supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan. A government official says the vehicles were stopped separately while travelling through the Khyber Pass, a 35-kilometre stretch of road. In each incident, masked gunmen forced the trucks to stop, then took the driver and vehicle away. Officials say the trucks were not carrying ammunition or weapons. Some 24 trucks and oil-tankers have been attacked along the route in the past month. Well-equipped militants loyal to the Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud are being blamed.
Sunday 09 November 2008 Two separate bomb attacks have killed 19 people in northwestern Pakistan. In the first attack, a bomb exploded at a meeting of some 200 tribal elders in the village of Batmalai, killing seven people and injuring 30 others. Police suspect a suicide bomber. Later, a suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives into a camp of paramilitary forces in Mingora, killing two people and injuring 11. The attack targeted a gathering of several hundred soldiers from the Frontier Corps. Pakistan's government is encouraging local elders to raise militias against Taliban militants. It was the second attack on a tribal gathering in less than a month.
Monday 03 November 2008 Violence continues in Pakistan's volatile South Waziristan region near the border with Afghanistan. Reports say eight Pakistani soldiers have been killed in the region in a suicide bombing on the weekend. The bomber rammed his vehicle into a group of officers at a paramilitary checkpoint. South Waziristan is a tribal area considered a haven for al-Qaida and Taliban-linked Islamist militants.
Monday 20 October 2008 Pakistan says that China has agreed to build two new nuclear power plants in Pakistan. Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, says that the two new plants will generate 680 megawatts of electricity. China has supported Pakistan's missile and nuclear weapons programme for decades. Both countries have a mutual desire to counter the rising power of India. Mr. Qureshi also says that President Asif Ali Zardari intends to visit China every three months to promote economic integration between the two countries. China helped Pakistan build its second nuclear power plant in 1999, in the town of Chasma, in the central province of Punjab. Canada helped to build Pakistan's first nuclear power plant in 1972.
Wednesday 15 October 2008 The United Nations High Commission for Refugees says it has unconfirmed information that the fighting between the Pakistani military and Islamic militants in the northwest has created 190,000 refugees. The world body says most of them are staying with host families but that it is helping those staying in temporary camps. The UN says 20,000 residents have fled the region of Bajur, where the military began an offensive in August. Some have gone to Afghanistan. The U.S. accuses the militants in northwestern Pakistan of staging cross-border raids into Afghanistan and Washington has expressed satisfaction in recent weeks the Pakistan is moving against them.
Tuesday 14 October 2008 Officials say 51 people died in weekend fighting between government troops and Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in northwestern Pakistan. The army reports 25 militant deaths and two soldiers in a day-long battle in the Swat area. Nine militants are reported killed in the Bajur region overnight. The government offensive launched against militants in Bajur in August has left 1,000 dead. Pakistan has been reacting to pressure from the U.S. to act against Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters who stage cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
Tuesday 07 October 2008 The government has ordered the expulsion of 50,000 Afghan refugees from the tribal areas where the military in August began an offensive against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the Bajaur region. A government spokesman says the refugees' houses will be bulldozed to prevent them from returning. The government claims that many of the refugees have ties to militant groups. The U.S. has been putting intense pressure on the government of President Asif Ali Zardari to crack down on insurgents who stage cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
Saturday 27 September 2008 Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has called U.S. support a "blessing" despite his having warned the U.S. military to stop intruding on his country's territory from Afghanistan. He made the comment standing beside U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice after both had taken part in a meeting at the UN of foreign ministers of major powers. On Thursday, Mr. Zardari told the General Assembly that Pakistan won't allow its territory to "be violated by our friends." U.S. and Pakistani ground troops exchanged fire Thursday across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. According to the Pakistani military, the firing occurred after two American helicopters entered Pakistani airspace, at which point a Pakistani border post fired warning shots at the helicopters. But according to the Americans, the helicopters were in Afghan airspace and were protecting an American-Afghan military patrol inside Afghanistan when the Pakistanis opened fire.
Friday 26 September 2008 Shots fired in US-Pakistan clash
The US military says its troops have exchanged gunfire with Pakistani forces across the border with Afghanistan.
Thursday 25 September 2008 OTTAWA: CANADIANS IN PAKISTAN URGED TO LEAVE
Canada's Foreign Affairs Department is advising Canadians living or working in Pakistan to consider leaving. Canadians were also urged to avoid travel to Pakistan. The warning came amid further fears of attacks against sites frequented by foreigners such as the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The hotel was bombed last week, killing more than 50 people and injuring about 250 others. The U.S. State Department is prohibiting all U.S. government personnel from staying at or even visiting major hotels in Pakistan's capital and in Karachi and Peshawar.
Tuesday 23 September 2008 The interior ministry says that President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza and top generals were to have dined at the Marriot Hotel on Saturday in Islamabad, when it was the target of a terrorist bombing that killed 60 people and injured more than 260 others. A source at the ministry told Agence France Presse that the site of heir dinner was changed at the last minute. However, a spokesman for the Marriott's ownership denies there was any government reservation on Saturday. An unknown group called the Fedayeen of Islam has taken responsibility for the attack, a claim which hasn't been substantiated. Meanwhile, the Pakistani reports killing 30 militants connected to the Taliban in the northeast. And the president, Mr. Zardari, has arrived in New York to attend the convening of the UN General Assembly. He'll meet on Tuesday with U.S. President George W. Bush and will discuss the Islamabad attack, and the missile attacks launched by pilotless aircraft presumably launched from Afghanistan by the U.S. military against Taliban targets in Pakistan.
Monday 22 September 2008 Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, has condemned the suicide bomb attack on a hotel in Pakistan yesterday in which at least 53 people were killed and more than 270 were wounded. Among the known victims were the Czech ambassador to Pakistan, two employees of the U.S. Pentagon and nationals from Germany and Vietnam. A Danish intelligence officer is also missing and feared killed. Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, has pledged to fight terrorism, and appealed to other countries to help to save his country. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the worst terrorist attacks in Pakistan's history. Suspicion is falling on militant Islamists linked to Al-Qaeda.
Sunday 21 September 2008 A huge truck bomb exploded in a luxury hotel in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on Saturday, killing at least 40 people. As many as 250 others were injured, some of them critically. Among the victims are foreigners, but their nationality was not reported. Police suspect that it was a suicide attack. The blast left a crater ten metres deep in front of the Marriott Hotel, a favourite hotel among foreigners. Some victims died after jumping from fires on the upper floors to escape from the flames. A senior police official called it one of the biggest terrorist strikes in Pakistan's history. Insurgents have staged a wave of attacks in recent weeks in retaliation against the army's crackdown. No one has claimed responsibility for the latest explosion.
Sunday 21 September 2008 Pakistan’s President Calls for End to Terrorism and Criticizes Intervention by U.S.
In a speech to Parliament, President Asif Ali Zardari offered a program of peace and reform while vowing to root out terrorism and extremism.
Bombing at Hotel in Pakistan Kills at Least 40 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A huge truck bomb exploded at the entrance to the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday evening, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 250, the police said.
Monday 15 September 2008 Pakistan soldiers 'confront US'
Pakistani troops fire shots into the air to stop US troops crossing into the South Waziristan region of Pakistan, local officials say.
Friday 12 September 2008 PAKISTAN
The military claims it killed between 80 and 100 militants in the Bajaur tribal region of the northwest. Ground troops are said to have been supported by tanks and fighter jets. The army has been fighting the militants in the area for weeks and has reported 600 people killed, most of them militants. The fighting is said to have caused the displacement of more than 260,000. The U.S. and Afghan government have repeatedly accused the Pakistani government of doing little to stop cross-border attacks by Islamists into Afghanistan.
UNITED STATES
The Associated Press reports that President George W. Bush secretly approved military raids inside Pakistan against presumed terrorist targets. According to an unnamed former intelligence official cited by AP, the president earlier in the summer signed an order giving authority to U.S. special forces to attack alleged terrorists in the Pakistani tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan. The agency cites an also unnamed American military official as confirming a reported special forces attack one-and-a-half kilometres inside Pakistan last week. Pakistan says the attack left at least 15 people dead, some of them women and children, and protested against the violation of its territory
Thursday 11 September 2008 Bush Said to Give Orders Allowing Raids in Pakistan
The order allowing Special Operations forces to act without the prior approval of the Pakistani government underscores U.S. concerns over Pakistan’s ability and will to combat militants.
Thursday 11 September 2008 At least 14 worshippers were killed when presumed Islamic militants used guns and grenades to attack a mosque in a village in NorthWest Frontier Province. The mayor of the village told the Reuters news agency that the attackers first lobbed grenades into the mosque and then opened fire with AK-47 automatic rifles. The mayor says 35 worshippers were injured. After being sworn in as President on Tuesday, Asif Ali Zardari pledged to continue the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the northwest. In another development, the Pakistani army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, said Pakistan would not allow foreign troops to conduct operations on its territory. Last week, U.S. commandos flew by helicopter into the Pakistani border province of South Waziristan to stage a raid against militants, the first such known incursion. Pakistani sources reported 20 deaths, some of them women and children.
Tuesday 09 September 2008 At least 13 people were killed in a missile attack by U.S. drones on a village in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border. American-led forces recently increased cross-border attacks against al- Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistani tribal areas. U.S. commandos carried out helicopter and ground assaults in South Waziristan last Wednesday. It was the first known incursion into Pakistan by U.S. troops since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Sunday 07 September 2008 Bhutto’s Widower Elected in Pakistan
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the slain former leader Benazir Bhutto, was elected president by a wide margin.
Sat 06/09/2008 As expected, the widower of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was selected on Saturday as the country's new president. Asif Ali Zardari secured about two-thirds of the 702 votes cast in parliament and four provincial assemblies. He succeeds Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month. On the same day, a truck packed with explosives blew up at a security checkpoint near the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 30 people and injuring 80 others. Many people were trapped under the rubble of damaged buildings in a nearby market. The military also gave details of another deadly attack about 170 kilometres away. Militants stormed a village where residents had foiled a kidnapping, killing 24 people.
Friday 05 September 2008 The U.S. defence department has acknowledged that American commandos attacked a Pakistani village earlier this week where Islamic militants were thought to be, the first such acknowledgement. A department spokesman said the U.S. will pursue terrorists wherever they conduct their activities. The U.S. government has accused the Pakistani government of not doing enough to suppress militants who carry out cross-border raids into Afghanistan. In a further incident on Thursday, Pakistani security officials and witnesses claim that a U.S. drone fired a missile in North Waziristan that killed four militants and injured five others
Tuesday 02 September 2008 The government has ordered an end to a three-week military operation against Pakistani Taliban and foreign fighters in the northwestern region of Bajur. The government says it ordered the halt to allow 300,000 displaced families to return home for the beginning of Ramadan. The military says it killed 560 militants, while about 20 soldiers died and 30 were missing. An unknown number of civilians also died.
Sunday 31 August 2008 Pakistani Parties Clash Over Reinstating Judge
A day after President Pervez Musharraf resigned from office, the strains between the ruling coalition parties became apparent in a dispute over fired judges. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Political order in Pakistan frayed further on Tuesday, the day after President Pervez Musharraf resigned, raising questions about who in the deeply divided civilian government would be in charge and for how long.
Sunday 31 August 2008 16:41
At a gathering of the Council on Foreign Relations,
he stumbled through basic questions about the Pakistan-United States
relationship from a knowledgeable crowd of experts.
Saturday 30 August 2008 The military reports having killed 22 Islamic militants, including two commanders, in an airstrike in the Swat Valley in the northwest. Troops supported by helicopters and artillery having been staging attacks in the valley for weeks. One spokesman said that the army has succeeded in disrupting the militants' command and communications structure. A Taliban cleric launched a violent campaign to enforce Islamic law in the Swat Valley in 2007.
Thursday 28 August 2008 The government reports that the army killed 44 Islamic militants in two battles in northwestern Pakistan. The fighting came days after the coalition which toppled former President Pervez Musharraf fell apart. The departure of its second-biggest party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ended an alliance between two parties that are old rivals. An election will be held on Sept. 6 to replace Mr. Musharraf. The Pakistan People's Party of its slain leader will run her widower, Asif Ali Zardari. Mr. Sharif's party will present a former Supreme Court judge.
Wednesday 27 August 2008 The governing coalition which only a week ago drove former President Pervez Musharraf out of power has collapsed. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif withdrew his party from the coalition over a disagreement with the Pakistan People's Party's leader Asif Ali Zardari about whether Mohammed Chaudry should be restored to his position as chief justice of the Supreme Court. Mr. Musharraf had dismissed him from it. The PPP had feared that Mr. Chaudry might try to prosecute the former president. Mr. Zardari is expected to seek a new coalition with smaller parties. He's running for the presidency in a vote set for Sept. 6.
August 23, 2008
After Musharraf, U.S. Struggles to Find New Pakistan Ally Against Taliban
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Now that Washington’s close friend, President Pervez Musharraf, is gone, the question is this: who among the array of characters in the political firmament here will America turn to in the messy fight against an emboldened Taliban?
Saturday 23 August 2008 The electoral commission has announced that there will be a presidential election on Sept. 6. Last Monday, former President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation as the legislature threatened to impeach him. The Pakistani constitution stipulates that in such a case an election must be held within one month. Lawmakers of the Pakistan People's Party led by Benazir Bhutto before her assassination in December have selected her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, to represent it. The president is elected by an electoral college composed of the members of both houses of the legislature and lawmakers from the four provincial assemblies.
Two suicide bombers killed 59 people and injured 70 others in bombings at a huge arms factory at Wah, 30 kilometres west of Islamabad. The heavily guarded facility employ 25,000 workers. The attack was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban as retaliation for the military's attacks against them in the Bajur region near the border with Afghanistan. Until recently, the five-month coalition government had sought to make peace deals with Islamic militants, but having had little success has returned to a military strategy against them. The coalition itself, meanwhile, is showing signs of weakening as the party led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has threatened to quit the government unless the judges dismissed by former President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned on Monday, are restored.
Tuesday 19 August 2008 The Political Life of Pervez Musharraf In 1999, Gen. Pervez Musharraf became another in a line of military men who had seized power in Pakistan. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he became America's chief ally in the region. During his nine-year rule, however, he faced a series of challenges that eroded much of his power.
Tuesday 19 August 2008 President Pervez Musharraf has resigned almost nine years after he came to power in a military coup. The former president explained that he wanted to spare his country a dangerous power struggle in which his political opponents intended to impeach him. Mr. Musharraf said that everything that he had done was for the sake of the Pakistani people, acknowledging that he had made some mistakes. It is now up to the country's parliament to choose a successor. The governing coalition has pledged to remove many presidential powers.
Friday 15 August 2008 The Financial Times newspaper of London reports that President Pervez Musharraf will resign rather than face impeachment by Parliament. The newspaper cites as its sources government officials and a close political associate. One source said that a deal has been negotiated between the new coalition government and the president. The official said Mr. Musharraf "...will try and stay in Pakistan."
Wednesday 13 August 2008 A bomb attack against an air force bus has killed 13 people and left 10 injured at Peshawar, in the northwest of the country. The attack was claimed by Pakistani Taliban as reprisal for military operations against Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. The Islamists were engaged in combats with the Pakistani army supported by the air force for several days in the Bajaur region, a stronghold of insurgents north of Peshawar. The government side claims to have killed 150 rebels
Thursday 07 August 2008 Pakistan in meltdown
The government decides to impeach the president Amid growing insecurity and economic crisis, Pakistan’s government decides to impeach the president
Sunday 03 August 2008 The foreign ministry has acknowledged that there are "probably" sympathizers of the Taliban within the country's intelligence service and a ministry spokeswoman has told the Associated Press that they need to be weeded out. However, the ministry denies a report by the New York Times newspaper that agents of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency that it was involved in the attack against a crowd gathered before the Indian embassy in Kabul in which 41 people died. The newspaper's report cited as its source U.S. officials. The Afghan government has long accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban, which the government in Islamabad denies.
Friday 11 July 2008 Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi says the UN has agreed to Pakistan's request to create an international commission to investigate the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last December. The minister says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said yes to the request and will name eminent people to investigate. Mrs. Bhutto died in a gun-and-suicide bomb attack as she left an election rally in Rawalpindi.
Monday 07 July 2008 An apparent suicide attack killed at least 11 Pakistani policemen on Sunday in Islamabad. The attack targetted police observing a rally by Islamist hardliners near Pakistan's Red Mosque. Thousands of Islamist hardliners rallied amid tight securityto commemorate the first anniversary of the deadly siege and storming of the mosque. More than 100 people were killed when police stormed the building. The storming unleashed a wave of Taliban suicide bombings across the country.
Sunday 15 June 2008 Tens of thousands of lawyers and activists demonstrated in Islamabad and completing a cross-country "long march" to demand the reinstatement of judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf after he imposed emergency rule last November. The demonstrators arrived in a caravan of hundred vehicles which made a 256-kilometre trip from Lahore. About 6,000 police and paramilitary troops and police were deployed in the capital ahead of the protesters' arrival. Lawyers have led the opposition to the president. Those fired included Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Sunday 25 May 2008 A senior leader of the party of Pakistan's former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was assassinated in a drive-by shooting in Karachi on Friday night. Tariq Khan was vice-president of Mr. Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party in southern Sindh province. He was in his car when he was hit by gunfire from two men on a motorcycle. Police have tightened security around Karachi.
Sunday 18 May 2008 0:46 Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan has been released more than three months after he was kidnapped in Pakistan's Khyber tribal region. Tariq Azizuddin disappeared on February 11 along with his driver and bodyguard as they drove from the city of Peshawar toward the Afghan border. In a video broadcast a month ago on an Arab satellite channel, Mr. Azizuddin said that he was being held by Taliban militants. No details have been released about how or when he was freed.
Friday 16 May 2008 A missile strike killed about a dozen people in the village of Damadola, a Pakistani border village. There are varying reports about who died. The Associated Press news agency cites a resident as saying that 15 people were killed in an attack on a house at which local Taliban leaders had gathered, and that secondary explosions indicated that explosives were stored inside. Agence France Presse cites an unnamed security official as saying that at least 12 militants were killed, including foreign fighters.
Saturday May 3, 2008 It was a bad year for press freedom in the world
12. Pakistan. Political unrest, sectarian strife and tribal warfare. Eight journalists have been murdered with impunity since 1998.
Wednesday 30 April 2008 Pakistan Coalition in Talks on Judges
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Leaders of Pakistan’s governing coalition are holding crucial talks in Dubai over whether to restore the high court judges ousted by President Pervez Musharraf in November, an issue that had badly strained the coalition partners and even threatens to break them apart.
Asif Ali Zardari, the chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party, and Nawaz Sharif, the leader of Pakistan Muslim League-N, held talks at a luncheon meeting at a hotel in Dubai as their self-imposed deadline expired on Wednesday.
Pakistanis again in the news and this time with more emphasis on the repercussions for Afghanistan. The International Herald Tribune reports that with cross-border attacks into Afghanistan on the rise, Washington faces the fact that its options are now even more limited, in part because of the change of leadership in Pakistan. Nothing from the Conservative government, but then they have probably muzzled Maxime Bernier since his recent diplomatic remarks in Afghanistan.
Sunday 20 April 2008 Pakistan's military successfully carried out a test of a nuclear-capable Shaheen-2 missile. The long-range ballistic missile has a range of two-thousand kilometres. Pakistan has been trying to match the nuclear arsenal of its neighbor and rival, India. The two countries went to war three times since 1947.
Wednesday 16 April 2008 The Olympic torch has arrived in Islamabad in its first stop of its Asian tour. Pakistan's pro-China government is hoping the various events will be festive and trouble-free. Protests against China's human rights record and its behaviour in Tibet led to protests in Western cities last week.
Sunday 06 April 2008 Fatal bird flu cases in Pakistan
The first cases of people dying from bird flu in Pakistan are confirmed by the World Health Organisation.
Tuesday 25 March 2008 Pakistan's newly elected prime minister has ordered the immediate release of all judges detained by President Pervez Musharraf. Yousaf Raza Gilani gave the order shortly after the National Assembly elected him as prime minister. He won easily over a rival who supported Mr. Musharraf. Mr. Gilani was a top official in the Pakistan People's Party of the late Benazir Bhutto. He spent five years in prison during Mr. Musharaf's presidency. Mr. Musharaf was widely criticized for detaining judges who he thought were challenging his regime.
Sunday 23 March 2008 The Pakistan People's Party, formerly led by Benazir Bhutto, has named the one-time parliament speaker, Yousaf Raza Gilani, as its candidate for Pakistan's next prime minister. The Pakistan's People's party won the biggest parliamentary bloc in elections last month. It is preparing to lead a new coalition government President Pervez Musharraf. The party has the customary right to name the prime minister because it won the most seats. Mr. Gilani was a close aide to Bhutto. He spent four years in jail on allegations that he abused his authority as speaker under Bhutto's second term as prime minister in the 1990s. He was freed in 2005.
Monday 10 March 2008 Pakistan Rivals Join to Fight MusharrafPakistan — The leaders of the two major political parties here, in an unexpectedly strong show of unity against President Pervez Musharraf, agreed Sunday that they would reinstate the judges fired by the president and would seek to strip him of crucial powers.
PARTIES UNITED, MUSHARRAF CORNERED by Josh
Ginsberg March 10, 2008
Holding its breath since last month’s elections, Pakistan
has finally exhaled. The country’s two largest parties have agreed
on a coalition government to oppose the rule of
President Pervez Musharraf. No majority emerged in parliament after the
February 18 election, leading to tense political questions over whether the
two largest parties, both opponents of Musharraf, could work together. But,
in an unexpected
show of unity, the Pakistani People’s Party of assassinated
leader Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by former
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, agreed
to share power. The stakes riding on the deal are high, as Pakistanis
invested hope that the elections would herald relief from autocracy, with
many voters having braved threats of violence in order to cast a ballot.
Failure of the parties to come together would have been massively
disillusioning, possibly leading to more violence. The parties have
pledged to reinstate the Supreme Court justices fired by Musharraf in
November, opening the door to a challenge of the president’s rule.
Musharraf had removed from the bench judges who he believed were about to
rule his presidency illegitimate.
But the deal between the parties won’t be celebrated in the White
House, where the Bush administration had hoped the new parliament would
work with Musharraf, who is a key ally in its war on terror. But
yesterday’s deal does not necessarily herald long-term stability for
the government. The Post (not available online) cites analysts who are
already predicting the union of the two parties may unravel in the face of
economic trouble or political machinations. In addition, the two
parties’ rhetoric regarding Musharraf is markedly different,
possibly indicating a difference of opinion as to how to handle him.
Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a bloodless coup, is hawkish, while
the PPP leader has been more conciliatory. But both parties are united on
the matter of the judges, who should be reinstated in a month if all goes
as planned. However, Musharraf has one ace up his sleeve: He has the power
to convene and dissolve parliament, and may delay starting a new session in
order to gain an advantage. But the grassroots pressure remains strong,
with hundreds of lawyers protesting in Islamabad for the reinstatement of
the judiciary. Under these conditions, Musharraf looks more and more like
a strongman about to take a hard fall.
Pakistan's two main political oppisition leaders agreed on Sunday to form a coalition that could threaten the power of President Pervez Musharraf. The coalition was announced by the country's former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and by the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of the party's slain leader, Benazir Bhutto. They also agreed to reappoint judges who were dismissed by President Musharraf last year as being too hostile to his regime. The PPP won the most seats in elections last month, but too few to govern alone.
Monday 03 March 2008 For the third day in a row, a suicide bombing has caused large casualties in northwestern Pakistan. On Sunday, at least 40 people were killed when the bomber detonated his explosives at a peacemaking meeting of tribal elders. More than 100 others were injured, many of them seriously. The bombing took place in the town of Darra Adam Khel about 40 kilometres south of the provincial capital, Peshawar. Suicide bombings in the previous two days killed 41 people and injured more than 60 others. Pakistan's security forces in the region have been battling Islamic militants linked to the Taliban.
Tuesday 26 February 2008 The country's surgeon general, Gen. Mushtaq Baig, and seven other died in a suicide bombing in Rawalpindi on Monday with 25 people being injured. Gen. Baig was the highest-ranking Pakistani officer to be killed in an attack since the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. It was also the first such attack since last week's national election. The leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has again called on President Pervez Musharraf to resign. The president's supporters were badly beaten in the election. The president's spokesman said he won't quit and that Mr. Sharif is the only one who wishes him to do so. Mr. Sharif's party and the Pakistan People's Party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto are seeking further political allies to obtain a two-thirds majority in the legislature which could theoretically impeach the president.
Saturday 23 February 2008 The leaders of the two political parties which won the most votes in Monday's parliamentary elections have agreed to form a coalition government. Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party and widower of its slain leader Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, made the announcement at a joint news conference in Islamabad. Mr. Sharif says the two parties now have a common agenda and agree as well on the restoration of the judges who were purged last year by President Pervez Musharraf. Mr. Sharif was ousted as prime minister when Mr. Musharraf staged a military coup in 1999 and says he wants the president to quit. The two coalition parties won a comfortable victory over the president's supporters on Monday but are short of the two-thirds majority in the legislature to impeach Mr. Musharraf.
Thursday 21 February 2008 The leaders of the two political parties that finished first and second in Monday's parliamentary election were to meet on Thursday to discuss a possible coalition government. The party that finished first, the Pakistan People's Party, will be represented by Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain leader Benazir Bhutto, and the Pakistan Muslim League by former Prime Minister Sharif Nawaz. He was ousted in 1999 in a military coup staged by President Pervez Musharraf, whose political supporters were crushed in the elections. Mr. Nawaz has made it clear he would like to drive the president from power. But Mr. Musharraf has told the Wall Street Journal that he has no intention of resigning but will instead work for a stable, democratic Pakistan.
MOVE OVER, MUSHARRAF by Jordan Himelfarb February 19, 2008
When “gunfire exchanges across the nation, rocket attacks
on remote polling stations and polling agents being kidnapped” are
all part of a “surprisingly
peaceful” election day, you know your democracy is in need of
change. The as-of-yet unofficial
results of yesterday’s Pakistani parliamentary election, which
was less marred by violence than expected, serve as an overwhelming
indication that change is exactly what the Pakistani electorate wants. Early returns
indicate that the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the party backing President
Pervez Musharraf, received a thorough
drubbing at the polls yesterday, finishing a distant third behind the
late Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan
Muslim League-N (PML-N), which shares only most of its name in common with
Musharraf’s party. Though Musharraf was not up for re-election, the
votes cast are seen as a referendum on the popularity of a president who,
earlier this year, in an attempt to quash growing discontent with his
rule, declared a state of emergency, suspending the country’s
constitution, exiling his enemies and firing the supreme court judges who
tried to stop him.
Reports from today’s papers indicate that the PPP and the PML-N have
begun negotiations
to form a coalition government, which, if the official results roughly
align with the latest polls, would hold a sufficient portion of
parliamentary power to impeach the president. In fact, the two
front-running parties’ shared desire to oust Musharraf is about all
they have in common, and concerns abound in today’s news cycle about
how a coalition government might function beyond the accomplishment of its
primary objective. The PPP is a centre-left party led by Asif Ali Zardari,
the widower of Benazir Bhutto, while PML-N is a religiously conservative
group fronted by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Regardless of who
gets the most votes, there remains the possibility that such speculation
might be moot, as vote-rigging
and election fraud are still widely expected, and official results
might vary significantly from these early indications. Meanwhile, the US
watches with interest as its precarious relationship with
Pakistan—one of immeasurable strategic importance for
America’s position in the Middle East—hangs in the balance.
The US has long backed Musharraf, nominally because of ill-founded
concerns that he might be replaced by an Islamist regime. It now appears
probable that new governments in both countries will have an opportunity
to restore their respective international reputations and forge a new kind
of relationship together.
Tuesday 19 February 2008 Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf issued a call for national unity on Monday, as the votes cast in Monday's parliamentary elections were being counted. The result won't be known until Wednesday. The voting went ahead without major violence yet fear of violence and apathy kept millions of voters at home. Officials have confirmed 24 deaths, most of them in Punjab province. However, the Pakistan People's Party, the formation of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, claimed that 15 of its members had been murdered and hundreds injured in violence "deliberately engineered to deter voters." In the days before the election, two polls indicated that the PPP would finish first, the opposition party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif second and the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q third.
Sunday 17 February 2008 India and Pakistan have taken a step today toward improving relations. They agreed to more than double the number of commercial flights between their countries. The number will increase from 12 to 28. Islamabad will be opened to Indian flights and the Indian city of Chennai will be opened to Pakistani flights. The number of airlines allowed to operate will increase from one for each country to three. The agreement came about as part of a peace process begun four years ago.
Sunday 17 February 2008 Fearful March to polls
Already jittery Pakistani voters got another terrifying shock ahead of tomorrow's parliamentary elections...
Thursday 31 January 2008 Pakistani Justice Breaks Silence
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the former chief justice of Pakistan, lambasted President Pervez Musharraf for squashing Pakistan’s independent judiciary. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the former chief justice of Pakistan who was removed last year when President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency, has finally broken his silence.
Thursday 31 January 2008 Pakistan Shuns C.I.A. Buildup Sought by U.S WASHINGTON — The top two American intelligence officials traveled secretly to Pakistan early this month to press President Pervez Musharraf to allow the Central Intelligence Agency greater latitude to operate in the tribal territories where Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups are all active, according to several officials who have been briefed on the visit.
Wednesday 30 January 2008 At least ten people were reported killed in a missile attack on a house in the North Waziristan region near the Afghanistan border. Violence has intensified in northwestern Pakistan in recent weeks with militants attacking security forces who have launched counter-attacks in response. Many al-Qaeda members, including Uzbeks, Arabs and Taliban militants, took refuge in North and South Waziristan after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.
Friday 25 January 2008 Pakistan's army says that its troops killed at least 40 militant rebels in an offensive on the Afghan border. Thirty other rebels were captured. Troops supported by tanks and helicopter gunships attacked militant hideouts in the district of South Waziristan. It's the first time in seven years that tanks were sent to the area. The region is a stronghold of a rebel commander who's accused of plotting the assassination of Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, last month.
Monday 21 January 2008 Security officials in Pakistan say they arrested a teenager allegedly involved in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last month. An intelligence official says that the 15-year-old suspect told investigators he had been part of a five-man squad deployed that day in the city of Rawalpindi, where Ms. Bhutto was killed. The suspect allegedly told investigators that the team of assassins had been dispatched by a militant leader with strong ties to al-Qaida and an alliance with the Taliban.
Saturday 19 January 2008 OTTAWA: PAKISTAN CRITICIZES DION FOR INTERVENTION COMMENTS
Pakistan is criticizing the leader of Canada's Liberal party for suggesting that NATO intervention might be necessary in that country. The Pakistani High Commission in Ottawa says it is dismayed by Stephane Dion's comments. Mr Dion said recently that NATO will never bring peace to Afghanistan as long as Taliban militants are able to escape across the border into neighbouring Pakistan. He added that if Pakistan is not able to prevent that on its own, NATO should consider intervening. Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre quickly clarified that Mr, Dion was not calling for military intervention in Pakistan but a diplomatic solution.
Pakistan's army said Friday its soldiers killed as many as 90 militants in two major battles in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border. The separate battles occurred when militants attacked an army fort and an army convoy. Friday's fighting occurred two days after hundreds of militants overran another army fort in the same region, killing seven soldiers. Fifteen other soldiers are still missing and presumed kidnapped.
Thursday 17 January 2008 Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party on Wednesday sent an appeal to the United Nations requesting it investigate her murder. Ms. Bhutto was assassinated in a gun and suicide bomb attack at an election rally in Rawalpindi on Dec. 2. Conflicting government accounts of how exactly she died have angered her supporters.
The commander of US forces in the Middle East said Wednesday the Pakistani military appears willing to work more closely with the US military on counter-insurgency efforts in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Admiral William Fallon said the US military already has some training activities with the Pakistanis, but it would grow "in terms of focusing on the counter-insurgency, the unconventional problems that they are recognizing are really driving the program." The Pentagon announced Tuesday that it is sending 3,200 marines to Afghanistan in the spring, 2,200 of which will be used to beef up NATO-led combat forces in the south, a Taliban stronghold. Most of Canada's 2,500 soldiers with the NATO force are stationed in the southern Kandahar province.
Wednesday 16 January 2008 MONTREAL: COMPUTERS IN CANADA HOLD PAKISTAN'S VOTERS' LIST
When Pakistanis go online to verify their voter information in advance of next month's planned elections, they'll be tapping into a database that is stored behind firewalls on a secure computer system in Canada. Cronomagic Canada, based in Montreal, was given the job of assembling and securing the voters' list of some 80-million names. Company president Hayee Bokhari, an immigrant from Pakistan, says all the data are stored on a state-of-the-art system in Canada because the Pakistanis can't meet the security and bandwidth requirements themselves. The company spent two weeks collating the data in Urdu, the official national language of Pakistan. Once it gets the nod from Pakistan's election commission, Cronomagic will open the database, allowing search requests by voters to flow from across Pakistan to Lahore, and then to Montreal over fibre optic lines. Pakistan's election is now scheduled for February 18th.
British anti-terror officers have joined the investigation into Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's assassination. They arrived a day after President Pervez Musharraf dismissed allegations his government may have had a hand in the slaying. Mr. Musharraf acknowledged that his decision to seek outside help to investigate the killing was partly to reassure people at home and abroad that there was no government involvement. He says the British officers will be providing mostly technical and forensic help with the investigation.
Tuesday 15 January 2008 At least seven Pakistani troops and 23 Islamic militants were killed in fighting on Monday in a remote tribal district near the Afghan border. The fighting occurred in the Mohmand tribal district after militants attacked a paramilitary convoy. The district has not seen the militant violence occurring in other parts of the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
Sunday 13 January 2008 Officials said Saturday Pakistani troops killed more than 50 Taliban militants after fighting off an attack on a military fort in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The clash occurred on the night between Wednesday and Thursday near the town of Ladha in the South Waziristan tribal district, where thousands of Pakistani troops are deployed to fight Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. There was no immediate comment from local Taliban sources. Pakistan has pushed more than 90,000 troops into the tribal belt to combat Islamic militants who fled Afghanistan after US-led forces invaded the country in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Saturday 12 January 2008 President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview published Friday that US troops would be regarded as invaders if they crossed into Pakistan to hunt Al-Qaida militants. He also said he would resign if opposition parties tried to impeach him after next month's elections. Mr. Musharraf's remarks in an interview with Singapore's The Straits Times came as police tried to identify a suicide bomber who struck Thursday in Lahore, killing 24 people. Pakistan is under growing US pressure to crack down on militants in its tribal regions close to the Afghan border. The rugged area has long been considered a likely hiding place for Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden as well as an operating ground for Taliban militants planning attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported last week that Washington was considering expanding the authority of the CIA and the military to launch covert operations within the tribal regions.
Wednesday Jan 9, 2008 Criticism of Bhutto doesn't detract from her greatness
In the days after Benazir Bhutto was killed, the world's media provided saturation coverage of her, the first woman elected to head a modern Muslim state: Bhutto could be seen addressing an enormous crowd of supporters, a passionate, vibrant speaker. In another image, shortly before she died, shot or mortally injured by a suicide bomber, she was photographed fixing her makeup. Through glasses embossed with Chanel's double C, she peered into a mirror, dabbing on red lip gloss.
Tuesday 08 January 2008
President Pervez Musharraf says opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was the only person to blame for her assassination on Dec. 27 following a campaign rally in Rawalpindi. Mr. Musharraf made the comment in an interview with a US television network on Sunday. He said Ms. Bhutto should not have been standing through the sunroof of the car in which she was travelling. Pakistan's interior ministry claimed that Ms. Bhutto died when she hit her head on the sunroof as she tried to duck after a suicide bomb attack. But Mr. Musharraf admitted that she could have been killed by gunshot. British anti-terrorism police are currently examining evidence in the assassination. Ms. Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardar, is calling on the United Nations to open an investigation into her death and urging the US and Britain to endorse calls for an independent investigation.
Al Qaeda and the Taliban use the tribal areas as a base.
WASHINGTON — President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The debate is a response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts there to destabilize the Pakistani government, several senior administration officials said.
Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a number of President Bush’s top national security advisers met Friday at the White House to discuss the proposal, which is part of a broad reassessment of American strategy after the assassination 10 days ago of the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. There was also talk of how to handle the period from now to the Feb. 18 elections, and the aftermath of those elections.
2007
News & Reviews you may not have seen
Parliamentaryelections in Pakistan scheduled for Jan. 8 have been postponed by the government until February, the secretary of the Election Commission said Tuesday.
While from our perspective this would appear to be a sensible decision, given the disarray in the Pakistan Peoples Party, it seems that opposition parties, including Bilawal Bhutto and his father, the new co-leaders of the PPP, were pressing for the vote take place as originally planned. In our view, rather than helping the democratic process along, the results of an early vote would be even more subject to suspicion and recriminations. We are not impressed by the argument advanced by “opposition party members and Western diplomats [that] the decision to push the election into February was largely intended to deprive the two main opposition parties of a huge sympathy vote after Ms. Bhutto was killed on Thursday.” A sympathy vote is not exactly the best basis we would suggest for good government.
A related topic is the government’s astonishingly amateurish attempt to falsify medical evidence and lay the blame for Benazir Bhutto’s death on a lever on the sunroof of her vehicle as she ducked down. It was inevitable that an amateur photographer would produce documentation to the contrary.
Cleoo Paskal has forwarded a fascinating and thought-proving analysis Why Benazir Bhutto posed a threat , which we urge all to read: “On Nov. 7 this columnist wrote that Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto’s election plans were likely to fail ‘if she survives’. The skepticism over her longevity was because of the threat she represented to both the Punjabi component in the Pakistan army and to the continuation of the military’s monopoly over state power.” More
Saturday 05 January 2008 British anti-terror officers have joined the investigation into Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's assassination. They arrived a day after President Pervez Musharraf dismissed allegations his government may have had a hand in the slaying. Mr. Musharraf acknowledged that his decision to seek outside help to investigate the killing was partly to reassure people at home and abroad that there was no government involvement. He says the British officers will be providing mostly technical and forensic help with the investigation.
Saturday 05 January 2008 MONTREAL: COMPUTERS IN CANADA HOLD PAKISTAN'S VOTERS' LIST
When Pakistanis go online to verify their voter information in advance of next month's planned elections, they'll be tapping into a database that is stored behind firewalls on a secure computer system in Canada. Cronomagic Canada, based in Montreal, was given the job of assembling and securing the voters' list of some 80-million names. Company president Hayee Bokhari, an immigrant from Pakistan, says all the data are stored on a state-of-the-art system in Canada because the Pakistanis can't meet the security and bandwidth requirements themselves. The company spent two weeks collating the data in Urdu, the official national language of Pakistan. Once it gets the nod from Pakistan's election commission, Cronomagic will open the database, allowing search requests by voters to flow from across Pakistan to Lahore, and then to Montreal over fibre optic lines. Pakistan's election is now scheduled for February 18th.
Friday 04 January 2008 Pakistani Opposition Parties Decry Election Delay ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The main opposition parties denounced the government’s decision on Wednesday to postpone parliamentary elections for six weeks after the assassination of the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, but they said they would abide by the ruling.
Tuesday 01 January 2008 OTTAWA: PAKISTANI CANADIANS CALL FOR INQUIRY
The Canadian wing of the Pakistan People's Party is demanding that Canada push for an independent inquiry into last week's assassination of leader Benazir Bhutto. There are conflicting reports about the cause of her death. The official Pakistani government position is that Mrs. Bhutto died of a head injury in the impact of a suicide bomb blast. However, new video images appear to show she was shot in the head. Speaking in Toronto on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that along with its allies, Canada is monitoring the situation very carefully. "We understand there may be some delay in holding elections," he said. "I think that's justifiable as long as it's delay to ensure a fair process." Pakistan's electoral commission is expected to recommend a delay in the general election planned for January 8th. Beyond what Mr. Harper called "the tragedy of the assassination," Ottawa is also concerned about stability in Pakistan as well as neighbouring Afghanistan where Canadian troops are helping put down an insurgency. Many of the rebels are drawn from lawless tribal areas on the Pakistan-Afghan frontier.
Parliamentary elections will likely be postponed for weeks. A government official says he expects a six-week delay in the elections slated for January 8th, following the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan's Election Commission says it is recommending a delay.
Monday 31 December 2007 CANADIANS HONOUR BHUTTO
The Canadian chapter of slain politician Benazir Bhutto's political party held a memorial for her at the Mississauga Muslim Community Centre in the province of Ontario. Hundreds of mourners attended the ceremony, called a Salatul-Janaza, or funeral prayer. Ibrahim Daniyal of the Pakistan Peoples Party of Canada says the memorial will likely be followed by a protest march this weekend. Daniyal said that if Ms. Bhutto were to have become the country's leader it would have been a great threat to all those sponsoring terrorism. A similar event to honour Ms. Bhutto was held in Vancouver.
Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest next to her father in the family mausoleum in the southern Pakistani town of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on Friday, one day after the former prime minister of Pakistan's assassination plunged Pakistan into crisis and triggered violent protests. Hundreds of thousands of weeping and chanting mourners thronged the mausoleum in an outpouring of grief for Ms. Bhutto. Meanwhile, furious supporters, many of them blaming Musharraf's government for the shooting and bombing attack on the former prime minister, rampaged through several cities in violence that left at least 27 dead. For its part, Pakistan's government claims it has evidence that al Qaeda is behind the attack that occurred at an election rally on Thursday in the city of Rawalpindi. It released a transcript of a recorded conversation between two al Qaeda leaders in which they discuss the men behind the attacks, whom one of the leaders calls "brave boys." The Interior Ministry said Ms. Bhutto was not shot, nor hit by shrapnel, but was killed when the force of the explosion smashed her head against a lever on the sun-roof.
The situation in Pakistan resulting from the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is already beginning to send economic and political shockwaves around the world. World leaders urged Pakistan to stay the course toward democracy, as Ms. Bhutto's death caused violence to erupt in the streets of Pakistan's towns and rattled global markets. Pakistan' s President Pervez Musharraf has appealed for calm, but many have lashed out at him, accusing him of failing to protect Ms. Bhutto. Ms. Bhutto's death dashed U.S. hopes of a power-sharing agreement between her and Mr. Musharraf, but President George W. Bush, who values Pakistan as an ally in his war on terror, urged Pakistan's leaders to honour Bhutto's memory by going ahead with the election. Many analysts believe the assassination, following a wave of suicide attacks and the worsening of an Islamist insurgency, could make an election impossible. They also see continued unrest in Pakistan as a major threat to global stability, arguing that if the situation gets any worse the country's nuclear weapons may fall into the hands of extremist factions.
December 28, 2007 Video Aired on 2nd November 2007,David Frost the press, Aired on November 2nd 2007,David Frost did not challenge her on her assertion that Bin Laden was murdered, so maybe he was and the West has not announced it. It would make sense that the West would cover up such a truth, as Bin Laden is needed as to continue the farcical "War on Terror"
GARHI KHUDA BAKHSH, Pakistan (Reuters) - Benazir Bhutto was laid
to rest next to her father in the family mausoleum on Friday
after the opposition leader's assassination plunged Pakistan
into crisis and triggered violent protests. Full
Article
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir
Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber on Thursday, plunging
the nuclear-armed country into one of the worst crises in its
60-year history. Full
Article
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush condemned
the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto
on Thursday, an act of violence that shredded U.S. hopes for
democratic elections in the country that is a key ally in Bush's
war on terrorism. Full
Article
Thursday 27 December 2007 Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, held talks Wednesday in Pakistan with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. They pledged to increase the co-operation of their intelligence agencies and tighten border controls in an effort to crack down on Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants along the two countries' chaotic border region. Afghan officials have repeatedly said that Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants use bases inside Pakistan to orchestrate attacks against Afghanistan's NATO-backed government and foreign forces. Meanwhile, suspected pro-Taliban militants on Wednesday released seven Pakistani security personnel kidnapped three weeks ago in a troubled tribal region near the Afghan border. The militants abducted the seven from two security posts in early December and then blew up the posts located around Khar, the main town of the Bajaur tribal district that is located near the border with Afghanistan.
Friday 21 December 2007 A prominent member of Pakistan's opposition was released from house arrest, several weeks after being detained under President Pervez Musharraf's state of emergency order. Aitzaz Ahsan is a lawyer who was formerly a member of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. He acted as chief defence counsel for the Supreme Court judge, Iftikhar Chaudry, who was suspended for criticizing Mr. Musharraf. Mr. Chaudry and several other judges remain under house arrest. Mr. Ahsan and other opposition members demand that the judges be re-instated.
Monday 17 December 2007 OTTAWA: FOREIGN MINISTER SEEKS MORE DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN
Canada is urging Pakistan's government to take further steps toward democratic rule after President Pervez Musharraf announced on Saturday he was lifting the six-week state of emergency. Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier says that Mr.Musharraf should also lift restrictions on the media and appoint independent judges. The minister added that Canadians fully support democratic rights for the people of Pakistan. A general election is scheduled to be held in Pakistan on January 8.
Saturday Dec 15, 2007
Emergency rule is set to end
The Gazette
President Pervez Musharraf is set to end emergency rule today but it was likely media would still face curbs with many judges and lawyers still under house arrest before Pakistan's election next month.
The government says constitutional rights will be restored but the opposition says Musharraf can still manipulate a general election win on Jan. 8 for his allies and secure a power base despite growing unpopularity and unrest.
Citing spiralling militant violence, Musharraf imposed the emergency on Nov. 3, suspended the constitution and purged the Supreme Court to fend off challenges to his re-election.
Pakistan has built a nuclear arsenal with the tacit aid of the US and Europe. Now that military extremist factions are on the rise in Pakistan, the US could end up regretting that aid. David Armstrong and Joseph Trento have co-authored a new book called America and the Islamic Bomb: The Deadly Compromise.
America and the Islamic Bomb is available for purchase at amazon.com
Tuesday 04 December 2007 Pakistan's Election Commission has barred former prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif from being a candidate in the Jan. 8 general election because of past criminal convictions. He was convicted of criminal charges after being removed from power in 1999 by Pervez Musharraf, who is now president. The case involved Mr. Sharif's attempt to stop a plane carrying his then army chief Musharraf from landing in Pakistan in October, 1999. Soon after, Mr. Musharraf and the army ousted Prime Minister Sharif. Mr. Sharif says the convictions against him were politically motivated. Meanwhile, emergency rule imposed across Pakistan last month will remain effect until after the elections.
Friday 30 November 2007 Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf says the a state of emergency he imposed on the country earlier this month will be lifted on Dec.16. He made the surprise announcement during an address to the nation after he was sworn in for a new five-year term as a civilian president. He also said the constitution will be restored. Mr. Musharraf had previously said that emergency rule would be lifted after the parliamentary elections on Jan. 8. Canada and other western countries condemned the Musharraf decision to impose martial law.
Wednesday 28 November 2007 1:11 President Pervez Musharraf bade farewell to his fellow generals on Tuesday, a day before he steps down as army chief. He took part in a short closed-door ceremony then went to the headquarters of the navy and air force in the capital, Islamabad. Mr. Musharraf will appear in uniform for the last time on Wednesday when he turns over his command to Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, a former chief of intelligence who is a supporter of the president. The president's political rival Nawaz Sharif says his conversion to a civilian president will make a difference and that he would boycott the parliamentary elections scheduled for next month only if all the opposition parties did so as well. Mr. Sharif was ousted as prime minister in 1999 when Mr. Musharraf staged a military coup. Mr. Sharif returned from exile in Saudi Arabia on Sunday and demands that the president end the state of emergency decreed on Nov. 3. Another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, has joined Mr. Sharif in that demand.
Monday 26 November 2007 Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned home Sunday from eight years in exile. Prior to his arrival, police detained hundreds of his supporters to stop them greeting him. The last time Mr. Sharif attempted to return, President Pervez Musharraf had him immediately deported. A presidential aide said Mr. Sharif will be allowed to stay this time. Mr. Sharif has spent most the past eight years in Saudi Arabia after being overthrown in a 1999 coup led by Mr. Musharraf. Saudi leaders have reportedly been pressuring Mr. Musharraf to let Mr. Sharif return to contest a presidential election in January.
Tuesday 20 November 2007 OTTAWA: FOREIGN MINISTER WILL BYPASS COMMONWEALTH MEETING
Canada's foreign minister, Maxime Bernier, will bypass a Commonwealth meeting on Pakistan this week in favour of the francophone summit in Laos. Mr. Bernier's parliamentary secretary, Helena Guergis, will replace him at the Commonwealth meeting in Uganda, where foreign ministers from more than 50 countries will decide whether to suspend Pakistan for dismissing Supreme Court judges and violently suppressing dissent. Prime Minister Stephen Harper will also be in Uganda on Thursday to attend a Commonwealth summit. Mr. Bernier's absence is the latest cause for criticism of his decisions since he was appointed earlier this year. A former foreign affairs minister, Lloyd Axworthy, expressed surprise, saying that Pakistan is a major world crisis with implications for Canada.
Sat 17/11/2007 U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte had a telephone conversation with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who was released from house arrest in Lahore on Friday. He also met with the national security adviser to President Pervez Musharraf, Tariq Aziz. Mr. Negroponte repeated the U.S. policy that the state of emergency decreed on Nov. 3 should be lifted. The U.S. government had been hoping before then for a power-sharing agreement between Mrs. Bhutto and the president. But earlier this week, she called on him to quit, saying she would never serve under him.
Fri 16/11/2007 Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been freed from a week of house arrest imposed to prevent her from leading a rally against President Pervez Musharraf. But dozens of police officers armed with batons and riot gear remain outside her home in Lahore. Mrs. Bhutto says she's trying to organize an opposition coalition that could govern the country until elections are held. She told the Associated Press over the telephone from her house arrest in Lahore that she has been in contact with other opposition to see whether they can come together. Another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said from exile in Saudi Arabia that he supports the idea but that it would be impossible to form an interim government while Pervez Musharraf remained president. Mr. Musharraf, meanwhile, has named Mohammedmian Soomro, a supporter, interim president and will on Friday name a cabinet, moves made necessary by the expiration of the parliamentary term. And U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is due in Islamabad on Friday on a mission to try to persuade the president to lift the state over emergency that he imposed on Nov. 3 and to hold election
Thursday 15 November 2007 U.S. Is Looking Past Musharraf in Case He Falls Almost two weeks into Pakistan’s political crisis, Bush administration officials are losing faith that the Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, can survive in office and have begun discussing what might come next, according to senior administration officials.
Thursday 15 November 2007
Pakistan appoints caretaker PM for polls
November 15, 2007 01:45 PM ET ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf appointed
on Thursday the chairman of the upper house Senate as caretaker
prime minister to oversee general elections the opposition says
it doubts can be free and fair. Full
Article
Tuesday 13 November 2007 The government of President Pervez Musharraf has issued a seven-day arrest warrant for opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, just hours before she was to have led a massive three- or four-day motorcade protest from Lahore to Islamabad. The protest was planned to force the president to end the state of emergency imposed on Nov. 3 and to free thousands of political prisoners. In London meanwhile, the 53-member Commonwealth has threatened to suspend Pakistan unless the emergency is ended. The Commonwealth has laid down a deadline of Nov. to do so or be suspended. The Commonwealth also demands the restoration of the constitution, the release of political prisoners and fair elections.
Sunday 11 November 2007 Pakistani Leader Blocks Protests, Creating Impasse
By DAVID ROHDE and JANE PERLEZ
The security crackdown by Gen. Pervez Musharraf that thwarted a rally by the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto left the adversaries locked in a standoff. more photos
Pakistan's most prominent opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, has been freed from temporary house arrest. Government forces prevented her from leaving her home in Islamabad Friday morning to attend a rally in nearby Rawalpindi. Rally organizers had hoped to protest against President Pervez Musharraf and the emergency rule that he imposed last Saturday. But police stopped the rally in Rawalpindi and used force to prevent public protests in other cities. Miss Bhutto has vowed defiance unless President Musharraf fulfils his latest promise to hold elections by mid-January and to restore the constitution.
Thursday 08 November 2007 VANCOUVER: PM CONDEMNS PAKISTAN EMERGENCY
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is making up excuses like the threat of terrorism to justify Saturday's imposition of a state of emergency and that his decision to do so is "not in the interest of the world." The prime minister says that the greatest threat to the stability of a country occurs when people don't have legitimate channels for opposition to its government, so that in the long run the opposition risks becoming extremist or even terrorist. Mr. Harper says his government is consulting with Canada's allies on ways to maintain pressure on Mr. Musharraf. The prime minister describes the events in Pakistan since Saturday as "very serious, very wrong and a very dangerous development for that part of the world."
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto says she will lead a mass protest against the state of emergency decreed on Saturday by President Pervez Musharraf unless he resigns as army chief, holds elections in January as scheduled and restores the constitution. Mrs. Bhutto gives him until Friday to comply. Mrs. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party is the biggest opposition party. She says her supporters will begin their protest on Nov. 13 in Lahore and then travel to Islamabad where a sit-in is planned. The president's deputy information minister, Tariq Azim Khan, says the state of emergency will be lifted within a few weeks. Other officials had said that the elections will take place as scheduled. But Mr. Musharraf hasn't confirmed either eventuality. He cited judicial hostility and rising militantism as the reasons for declaring the emergency. The Supreme Court had been hearing challenges of the legitimacy of Mr. Musharraf's re-election on Oct. 6 on the grounds that as army chief he was ineligible for election. Since Saturday, police have arrested hundreds of lawyers and other opposition personalities.
Wednesday 07 November 2007
DRESSED FOR A DAY AT THE PROTESTS
Despite the declaration of martial law and brutal crackdowns by Pakistani
leader Pervez Musharraf, the lawyers continued to protest in Pakistan. The Star took
care of the serious business first, coming up with a snappy name for the
recent political unrest. Dubbing the events the “shirt and
tie” revolution, the paper offers some original insight, noting that
lawyers can take a lead role in the protests because of their class
position. In a separate story, the
paper reports that, according to the Canadian International Development
Agency, the Harper government is taking a wait-and-see attitude to how
events play out before reacting. In its world news section, the paper
publishes yet another story, this one from the Washington Post, saying
that the crackdown is aimed squarely at civil society and not Islamist
militants. The
Post fronts with that point, arguing that Musharraf is fighting the
wrong enemy. They go inside with a more straightforward report.
Meanwhile, The
National’s Adrienne Arsenault says the pertinent questions are
whether or not Musharraf’s opponents will be able to mobilize in the
face of media restrictions and communications interruptions and, if so, how
they will deal with subsequent military repression. In addition to its main
piece,
the Globe offers this story
on Pakistan’s recently-fired top judge, who is urging the Pakistani
people to take to the streets against Musharraf. CTV
News, La
Presse and the
Citizen go inside with this story as well.
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It’s a very mixed and quite bleak bag this week, with the crisis in Pakistan dominating the international news,
Monday 05 November 2007
As many as 500 people have been detained across Pakistan, where government forces are implementing President Pervez Musharaf's state of emergency. Many arrests came as police broke up a protest rally in the capital, Islamabad. The government said that parliamentary elections scheduled for early next year could be delayed by as much as 12 months. Independent television stations have been shut down. President Musharraf said that emergency action was needed to prevent anarchy. His actions have been widely criticized by the United States, India, and other countries, including Canada. The United States has warned Pakistan that aid might be cut if the crisis is not resolved.
Monday 05 November 2007
PRAISED BY FAINT CONDEMNATION by Daniel Casey
Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, has usually come
across as a wily sort, at least as far as the heads of military juntas go.
Anyone able to walk a fine line between the Taliban and US President George
W. Bush internationally, and between Muslim fundamentalists and democrats
at home, without getting himself blown up, is obviously a fairly astute
sort of person. Musharraf’s luck may be running out, however, as he
has not been able to smile or salute his way out of the problems that have
beset his rule in its eighth year. They are all coming to a head this week:
The return of his rival, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who hopes to
play a role in a US-backed power-sharing deal, and the revolt of the
country’s judiciary, led by Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry, the Supreme
Court Chief Justice who sparked massive protests earlier this year when he
refused to step down. Now that Musharraf has declared a state of emergency,
he has immobilized his political rivals, surrounding the Supreme Court with
troops and demanding approval of his unconstitutional power grab. CTV
News shows footage of Bhutto holed up in her family compound in Karachi
and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan similarly under house arrest,
while CBC
News: Sunday Night shares images of protesting lawyers and students
suddenly surrounded by police and dragged into dark vans. The
Globe reports that some five hundred opposition figures have been
rounded up and jailed in “preventative arrests,” including
hundreds of lawyers.
Musharraf is usually characterized as the West’s most reliable ally
in the Muslim world, and so we are treated to a great deal of instruction
today on why we must lay aside our democratic pieties and gravely accept
Musharraf’s continued rule. Today’s papers effectively
validate Musharraf’s justifications for his sudden crackdown,
accepting at face value his claims of being hamstrung by judicial
interference in his efforts to crack down on extremists. The
Post’s Peter Goodspeed provides the purest example of this
attitude, sighing that “ugly as it may seem, while we pay lip
service to our democratic principles, Pakistan’s Western allies may
have no alternative but to watch nervously from the sidelines.”
Primarily concerned with keeping Afghanistan relatively stable, the West
seems happy to stay out of the game entirely and leave Musharraf to his
own devices. The
Globe relays the mild criticism that has issued from the Bush
administration, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying that she
was “disappointed” by Musharraf’s move; the
Citizen gets a quick interview in with Defence Minister Peter MacKay,
who says he is “concerned” about the situation and finds it
“unsettling.” Some skeptical voices can be heard, however; the
Globe notes Musharraf’s strident attacks on the judicial system
in the absence of well-organized opposition parties, and the Star
speaks with political analyst Kamran Bokhari, who wonders “how does
martial law, or emergency ... help him fight against Al Qaeda more
effectively than he could before this?”
Benazir Bhutto's Toughest Mission
By ARYN BAKER/KARACHI
To her supporters, Benazir Bhutto is Pakistan's savior. But the many challenges the troubled nation faces may be too grave for even its favorite daughter to surmount Who Is Behind the Attack on Bhutto? Friday, Oct. 19, 2007
the return of Benazir Bhutto to lead her party in contesting the January elections has already precipitated violence and, sadly, there’s surely more to come.
Bhutto’s Return Brings Pakistani Politics to a Boil ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 29 — Home for just over a week, the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has raised the temperature in Pakistan a hundredfold, stirring friend and foe alike as she rallies supporters, courts the news media and plunges back into the muck of Pakistan’s politics.
Sunday Oct 28, 2007 Eleven men who were kidnapped by militants in northwestern Pakistan on Friday have been executed. The victims were abducted while travelling in a minibus near the town of Swat. The next day, six beheaded bodies were found in the town of Matta. Four other bodies were found a few kilometres away. The eleventh body's location was not reported. In notes attached to the bodies, militants explained that they killed the victims for having worked for the United States. The notes threatened the same fate for others who act as collaborators.
Tuesday 23 October 2007 Police on Saturday were questioning three people over Thursday's deadly bombing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's homecoming caravan. An investigator said the men were linked to a vehicle police believe was used by one of the attackers, who threw a grenade at the convoy. That blast was followed by the suicide bomber's detonation. The blasts killed at least 139 people and injured more than 200 in the deadliest attack in Pakistan's history. Police picked up the three men from southern Punjab province--Pakistan's largest province and a hotbed of militancy--and brought them to Karachi for questioning. The senior investigator said police believed the men hold crucial clues in the bombing. The men have yet to be charged. Meanwhile, Pakistani newspapers on Saturday urged political parties to unite to fight religious extremism.
Police say more than 115 people were killed and more than 200 injured in two bomb explosions in Karachi in an apparent attempt to assassinate opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who had just returned from eight years of exile. Mrs. Bhutto is said to be safe. A police spokesman told Agence France Presse that Mrs. Bhutto had just got into a truck after spending time greeting a huge throng that had turned out to welcome her when there were two huge explosions only five metres away. A second officer told Reuters that the blasts hit and demolished two police vehicles that were escorting the truck. Earlier in the week, militants linked to al-Qaeda had threatened to kill Mrs. Bhutto because of her support for the U.S. war against terrorism. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari has told a private television station that a Pakistani intelligence service is responsible for the attack, not militants.
Thursday 18 October 2007
THE STRAIGHT GOODS:
Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan from exile, amid promises of reform and
threats on her life. Turkey’s parliament authorizes military action
against PKK guerillas operating in Iraq, setting the stage for a US ally
to invade a country under American occupation. Transportation Safety Board
officials warn that BC Ferries employees may be smoking pot between shifts,
but have no evidence that this contributed to the sinking of the Queen of
the North.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BHUTTO’S BACK The
Globe fronts while La Presse (not available online) and the
Citizen go inside and the
Post briefs the return of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to
Pakistan. Expectations are running as high as tensions, as her plane will
land in the teeming port city of Karachi. The Globe explains that Karachi,
where the Bhutto political dynasty is based, is also the home of the
pro-government Sindhi MQM party, and that the MQM’s partisans,
combined with the thousands of pro-Bhutto Pakistan People’s Party
supporters who are converging on the city, will be a dangerous mixture.
Despite the country’s enormous and growing population, Pakistani
politics is still focused on a personal air of leadership; from the
airport, Bhutto will travel in a “specially built, bulletproof
truck” to pay her respects at the tomb of Pakistan’s founder,
Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It is the same symbolic pilgrimage she first made in
her triumphant return from exile in 1986, and her party has predicted that
the cheering throngs will slow down her progress so much that the
sixteen-kilometre journey could take twelve hours. The crowd will not be
limited to Bhutto’s supporters, however, and while the government is
deploying 20,000 extra police and security personnel to handle her
security, it warns that no less than three terrorist groups are plotting
suicide attacks against her. In La Presse, Pauline Garaude paints an
extraordinary picture of Karachi on the eve of Bhutto’s return:
enormous billboards plastered with her face at every major intersection,
and the PPP’s headquarters of Bilawal House in a frenzy of activity
with workmen painting walls and polishing marble floors.
While there is little doubt that Bhutto commands particular devotion
among the PPP faithful, it’s not as if she has returned by popular
demand. President Pervez Musharraf, whose power base in the army and the
powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency has historically supported the
Taliban, has been unable or unwilling to eradicate al-Qaeda and Taliban
safe havens in Pakistan’s lawless border regions. The US has been
pressing Musharraf to broaden the base of his increasingly unpopular
government, building support among the country’s middle classes and
more socially liberal elements by working out a power-sharing agreement
with Bhutto that would free his hand to move more decisively against
extremists. The Harvard-educated Bhutto knows how to cultivate Wesmtern
support, and sounds all the right notes in a Globe
opinion piece (subs only). In her call for “a moderate and modern
Islam that marginalizes religious extremists” she promises to
“mobilize the moderate middle of our society to confront and contain
fanatics,” repeating “moderate” or
“moderation” four times and “democracy” or
“democratic” no less than seven times. Bhutto knows what we
want to hear. Her ability to deliver economic growth and transcend
Pakistan’s history of corruption will determine whether her
country’s people listen.
Friday Oct 12, 2007 Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return from exile as she has planned next week. The revelation comes from a spokesman from her opposition Pakistan People's Party in Islamabad, who made it to Agence France Presse. Mrs. Bhutto has said she'll arrive in Karachi on Oct. 18. Last week, she and President Pervez Musharraf agreed that fraud charges against her would be lifted, an accord that opens up the possibility of a power-sharing arrangement between them. On Wednesday, the president, who won re-election last Saturday, suggested that Mrs. Bhutto should delay her return until the Supreme Court starts hearing challenges to the re-election on Oct. 17. Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced general elections for January 2008, the first in Pakistan since 2002. Mrs. Bhutto has said she intends to lead her party to victory in them.
Tuesday 09 October 2007 The military reports having killed 130 pro-Taliban militants in two days of battle in a tribal region of North Waziristan province along the border with Afghanistan. Forty-five soldiers are said to have died as well in fierce fighting. The miitary says the battles began after insurgents attacked the soldiers with roadside bombs and ambushes, the military responding with air strikes and ground operations. Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf, who won the presidential election during the weekend, has named his successor as army chief. He's Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, who has masterminded the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Mr. Musharraf had promised to resign as army chief if he won the election. He'll have to wait nine days before being confirmed for another term while the Supreme Court considers petitions that want him disqualified precisely because he's army chief.
Monday 08 October 2007 Pakistan's election commission has voted in Gen. Pervez Musharraf as president. He took 252 out of 257 votes cast in the national assembly and senate on Saturday. The legality of the vote is still to be decided by the Supreme Court. It will release its decision Oct. 17. Gen. Musharraf reacted to the results saying that a democracy means listening to the majority. Gen. Musharraf has promised to quit the army and be sworn in as a civilian leader if re-elected. The political opposition boycotted Saturday's vote. Meanwhile, Pakistani officials said Pakistani soldiers backed by helicopter gunships and jets killed 65 pro-Taliban militants but lost 20 of their own men in fierce fighting in a tribal area on the Afghan border. The fighting began when militants ambushed a military convoy near Mir Ali town in North Waziristan on Saturday night.
Sunday 07 October 2007 Unofficial results show Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf the runaway winner in a presidential election Saturday. But he will have to wait days before he knows whether he can take office. Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled Friday that the official results can only be declared after the court rules on complaints lodged by Gen. Musharraf's opponents that his candidacy is unconstitutional. Hearings are set for Oct. 17. Opposition members abstained or boycotted Saturday's vote by members of parliament and the four provincial assemblies to protest Gen. Musharraf running for a new five-year-term while still army chief. There's speculation that if the court blocks Gen. Musharraf, he will declare martial law. Gen. Musharraf had promised to quit the army and be sworn in as a civilian leader if he won the election. The general seized power in a military coup eight years ago.
Wednesday 03 October 2007 President Pervez Musharraf continued on Tuesday maneuvres to serve a third term as president. He named an ally to replace him as head of the military provided that he's re-elected on Saturday by national and provincial legislatures. However, a coalition of opposition legislators resigned Parliament with the aim of depriving the election of legitimacy on the grounds that Mr. Musharraf cannot constitutionally be both president and military chief. Also on Tuesday, the president issued an amnesty for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who has lived in exile for the past eight years after fleeing prosecution for alleged corruption. Mrs. Bhutto has said she'll return from her exile in London on Oct. 18. The amnesty will also apply to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose government Mr. Musharraf overthrew in a military coup in 1999. Mr. Sharif returned to Islamabad several weeks ago but the president ordered him immediately deported.
Tuesday 02 October 2007 Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni addressed the UN General Assembly on Monday, calling on the world community to support both her country and the Palestinians in establishing a two-state resolution of a half-century of conflict. She more specifically called on the Arab and Muslim world to offer support rather than try to impose conditions. Mrs. Livni suggested that international donors could assist the new Palestinian state financially. The minister also said that groups like Hamas and Hezbollah must be given a choice between violence and legitimacy. Israel has threatened to cut of electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza unless Hamas, which seized control of the territory in mid-June, causes an end to rocket fire into Israel.
Wed 1332
The very public instantaneous arrest and deportation of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif from Pakistan is not an encouraging sign in a country that is beset with serious problems that have their roots in its creation sixty years ago.
Wednesday 19 September 2007 A senator representing the governing Pakistan Muslim League says that President Pervez Musharraf will resign his post as army chief by the end of the year, as required by the constitution. The resignation would diminish some of the opposition to his quest for another five-year term as president. Mr. Musharraf has been army chief since he seized power in a military coup in 1999. Sen. Mushahid Hussain Sayed says he expects the president to be re-elected as a civilian before Nov. 15. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said that any power-sharing arrangement with the president would depend on his becoming a civilian. Mrs. Bhutto has said she will return to Pakistan on Oct. 18, ending eight years of self-imposed exile.
Monday 17 September 2007 Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto said Sunday allies of the country's president, General Pervez Musharraf, who are opposed to sharing power with her are pushing Pakistan toward anarchy. Ms. Bhutto, who has been living in exile in London, has been in talks with Gen. Musharraf for months on a pact that could defuse legal challenges to his re-election bid and let her return and compete in parliamentary elections. But negotiations have snagged over the reluctance of Gen. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, to give up his sweeping powers. Ms. Bhutto made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press
Saturday 15 September 2007 The Pakistan People's Party says its leader, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return from exile, flying into Karachi on Oct. 18. The government has promised not to deport her, as it did to another exiled former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, on Monday. Mrs. Bhutto has vowed to restore democracy and has been in negotiation with President Pervez Musharraf over the conditions of her return. Both have called on moderates to unite to defeat Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists based along the border with Afghanistan. Mrs. Bhutto left Pakistan eight years ago amidst allegations of corruption. She was elected prime minister in 1988 and again in 1993. Both government were dismissed on corruption charges, accompanied by economic problems and disputes with the military.
Tuesday 11 September 2007 Pakistan Edgy as Ex-Premier Is Exiled Again ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 10 — Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, faced the prospect of fresh clashes with a newly independent Supreme Court after deporting a former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, as he tried to return from exile on Monday.
Saturday 01 September 2007 Exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto met with colleagues of her Pakistan People's Party in London on Friday to discuss whether she should continue to negotiate new political arrangements in Pakistan with President Pervez Musharraf. The two have been arguing for months about the terms of an agreement that would enable him to serve another terms as president. Mrs. Bhutto has so far failed to persuade him to resign as army chief and to give up the power to dismiss the government and Parliament. It was incorrectly reported earlier in the week that he had accepted the former condition. Another former Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, is opposed to Mrs. Bhutto's negotiations with the president, accusing her of seeking personal gain. Gen. Musharraf deposed and exiled Mr. Sharif in 1999.
Wednesday 15 August 2007 Pakistan celebrated its 60th anniversary on Tuesday. Both Pakistan and its neighbour and rival India were born on the same day out of the termination of British India, although India will celebrate its own independence on Wednesday. Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz led a flag-raising ceremony in Islamabad in which he praised the country's atomic weapons which he says make it the world's "only Islamic nuclear power." President Pervez Musharraf issued an Independence Day message in which he urged his compatriots to vote in the elections expected next year. Pakistan's political opposition accuses him of trying to violate the country's constitution by both remaining president and head of the army. Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Gordon Brown have offered their congratulations to India on its own 60th anniversary.
Tuesday 14 August 2007 President Pervez Musharraf is expected to fly to Kabul Sunday to address a gathering of Afghani tribal leaders. They have been discussing ways to combat the Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgency. Sunday is the last session of the four-day meeting. General Musharraf had initially declined to attend, citing urgent commitments at home. But he changed his mind after receiving a call from Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday. Gen. Musharraf's absence had been seen as a blow to the tribal assembly. Some 650 delegates from Afghanistan and Pakistan are in Kabul for the meeting.
Wednesday 18 July 2007 A suicide bomber attacked a political rally in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday, killing 15 people. Another 40 were injured. The rally was awaiting the arrival of Iftikhar Chaudhry, the country's former top judge who was removed from his post this year by President Pervez Musharraf. The Supreme Court will decide within the next few days whether to reinstate Mr. Chaudhry. Pakistan has been the scene of a series of suicide attacks following the government's deadly attack earlier this month on Islamist extremists in the Red Mosque.
A report by 16 U.S. intelligence-gathering agencies says that the al-Qaeda terrorist organization has regrouped, is gaining strength in lawless border areas of Pakistan and is determined to inflict mass casualties inside the U.S. The National Intelligence Estimate says that al-Qaeda is determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction and wouldn't hesitate to use them. The agencies conclude that the U.S. is therefore in a "heightened threat environment." The Democratic Party responded that the invasion of Iraq ordered by Republic Party President George W. Bush has made the U.S. more vulnerable. Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden says the threat posed by al-Qaeda in Iraq didn't exist before the invasion and calls the intelligence report a "devastating indictment." The president answered in turn that al-Qaeda is indeed strong but would be stronger had not his administration launched an offensive against the organization.
Monday 16 July 2007 Aid to Pakistan in Tribal Areas Raises Concerns GHALANAI, Pakistan — The United States plans to pour $750 million of aid into Pakistan’s tribal areas over the next five years as part of a “hearts and minds” campaign to win over this lawless region from Qaeda and Taliban militants.
Monday 16 July 2007 VIOLENCE WIDENS INPAKISTAN
In the aftermath of the weeklong siege of Islamabad's Red Mosque and the
bloody assault that ended militants' hold on the compound, Pakistan's
fragile peace may be falling apart. The
Globe and the Citizen (not available online) front, the Post and La
Presse (neither available online) go inside, and CBC
News: Sunday Night and CTV
News brief the volatile political climate and growing fear of a wider
confrontation as additional government troops are sent to the rugged
region of North Waziristan, near the Afghan border. The Citizen's report
highlights Musharraf's delicate balancing act: he faces increased internal
pressure to make this year's scheduled elections free and fair, while
avoiding open conflict with Taliban forces that command public and
military support and staying in the good graces of the United States. The
Post quotes a former high-ranking Pakistani military figure as having
observed the movement of heavy artillery to North Waziristan, ominously
raising the prospect that the thousands of additional troops being moved
into the region are there not to keep a lid on potential anti-government
violence but to fight a more open conflict with the region’s various
armed factions. Meanwhile, in what La Presse termed a “bloody
weekend” with dozens of casualties, militants carried out several
attacks in different parts of North-West Frontier Province. As the Globe
reports, on Sunday a military convoy fell victim to two suicide
bombers driving explosive-laden vans as well as a roadside bomb, while on
Saturday a suicide bomber attacked a crowded police recruiting station.
Sunday 15 July 2007 rci At least 24 soldiers were killed near Pakistan's border with Afghan on Saturday when a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into their convoy. More than 20 others were injured. The paramilitary convoy was heading to Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal district. It's not clear whether the attack was motivated by the government's assault on Islamist extremists inside the Red Mosque in Islamabad earlier in the week. On Saturday, thousands of people demonstrated against President Pervez Musharraf and his ally, the United States.
Monday 09 July 2007 Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has issued an ultimatum to several hundred people holed up in a mosque in Islamabad. They must vacate the premises, or they will be killed. A defiant cleric at the besieged Red Mosque is accusing government security forces of killing dozens of his students. Explosions and intense gunfire were heard around the compound early on Saturday. Pakistani troops have surrounded the mosque, but so far have held off from an all-out assault. The violence erupted over extremists' demands to implement strict Islamic Sharia law throughout Pakistan.
Monday 09 July 2007 Fighting continued for the sixth day on Sunday between radical Islamist students and Pakistani troops at the Red mosque in Islamabad. The militants, led by a key cleric, are seeking to have the government impose Islamic law. Overnight, militant students opened fire as troops tried to blast holes in the mosque walls to allow women and children to escape. Military officials said that a Pakistani army colonel was killed and another soldier wounded.
Unidentified gunmen have killed three ethnic Chinese men and severely wounded a fourth in the city of Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan. All four victims were living in the same house where the attack occurred. The Chinese owned a small company to build three-wheel rickshaws. The motive of the attack is unknown, but there's speculation that it might be linked to the armed standoff at the Red mosque in Islamabad. One of the leaders of Islamist militants inside the mosque, Abdul Aziz, has been charged with kidnapping foreigners, including Chinese. China has expressed support for the government to end the standoff. In the past few years, Islamic militants have staged attacks against ethnic Chinese as a protest against Chinese investment in Pakistan. China is Pakistan's main supplier of weapons.
Wednesday 04 July 2007 TORONTO: MP IMPLICATED WITH NOTORIOUS PAKISTANI PARTY
Conservative Member of Parliament Art Hanger says he's was unaware that a Pakistani who presented him with a plaque last month in Calgary stands accused of crimes against humanity. Mr. Hanger acknowledges having posed for a photo with Syed Safdar Ali Baqri while attending a meeting of MQM-Canada last month. The MP for Calgary Northeast riding says he didn't know that Canadian immigration officials have rejected Mr. Baqri's refugee claim on the grounds that he was complicit with atrocities in Pakistan. MQM is one of the political parties represented in Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's ruling coalition. The Canadian MQM branch has never been accused of illegalities, but in Pakistan the party has been blamed for ethnic riots, kidnappings, torture and murder. Last May, more than 40 people died in riots in Karachi between MQM supporters and government opponents angered by the president's dismissal of the Pakistani chief justice. According to the National Post newspaper, the Canada Border Services Agency is seeking to deport dozens of Pakistanis for their involvement with the MQM in Karachi. Mr. Baqri was an MQM party boss and a cabinet minister in Karachi in the early 1990s.
Sunday Jun 17, 2007 A huge rally on Saturday welcomed a leading magistrate who is challenging Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was dimissed by the president earlier this year because of his independent views. Thousands of people cheered Mr. Chaudhry as his motorcade drove from Islamabad to Faisalabad. Police cracked down on his supporters, arresting about 300 of them.
Friday 12 January 2007 ISLAMABAD: MacKAY MEETS WITH MUSHARRAF
Canada's foreign minister, Peter MacKay, held talks Tuesday in Islamabad with Pakistani leaders. Mr. MacKay first met with his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Kasuri, and discussed Pakistan's move to plant landmines along its borders, a move Canada opposes. The two foreign ministers also discussed the current situation in Afghanistan where Canada is part of a Western-led military campaign aimed at restoring democracy to that country. Later, Mr. MacKay held talks with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Prior to his visit to Pakistan, Mr. MacKay was in Afghanistan, where he held talks with that country's leader, Hamid Karzai. Mr. Mackay announced Canadian funding of $10 million to help pay the salaries of Afghan policemen. Canada has 2300 troops in Afghanistan with the NATO contingent. Virtually all of them are based in southern Afghanistan. They are engaged in fighting Taliban forces, who are said to have free passage across the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Sunday 26 November 2006 China has signed a free-trade pact with Pakistan. President Ju Jintao signed the agreement with his counterpart, President Pervez Musharraf, in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad. The two countries also signed 18 agreements aimed at boosting trade from $4.26 billion last year to $15 billion within five years. Sources close to Mr. Hu say he wants to show that China's growing ties with India are not at Pakistan's expense. During a news conference, Mr. Musharraf said the two countries were ready to work together with to raise their strategic partnership to a new level. Western analysts believe China has supported Pakistan's missile and nuclear weapons programme for decades. China is also Pakistan's main supplier of conventional arms.
Wednesday 01 November 2006 Twenty-thousand Pakistani tribesmen took part in a rally in the western town of Khar to protest against the air attack on Monday by the Pakistani military against a religious school. Eighty people died in the attack not far from Khar. Local residents claimed the victims at the madrassa were harmless religious students and teachers, but the military claims the target was a front for terrorists connected to al-Qaeda. There were also smaller protests in Peshawar, Multan, Quetta and Lahore.
Saturday 07 October 2006 rci A violent dispute over who owns a shrine in northwestern Pakistan has killed 17 people. The dispute began several days ago between rival Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim tribesmen. Clerics from both sides tried to occupy a shrine in the district of Orakzai. Their dispute then spread to the neighbouring districts of Khurram and Hangu. Extra security officers have been sent to restore calm. Hangu was the site of sectarian violence early this year. More than 30 people were killed as a result of a suicide bombing and subsequent fighting.
Sat 23/09/2006
Bush, Musharraf play down tensions U.S. President George W. Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf tried Friday to set aside growing tensions over the war on terrorism, expressing renewed trust in each and even joking about allegations the U.S. threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Sunday 03 September 2006 TORONTO: DEFENCE MINISTER ADVOCATES CANADIAN TROOP PRESENCE IN PAKISTAN
Canada's Defence Minister, Gordon O'Connor, says that Canadian troops should be sent to Pakistan to hunt down Taliban insurgents. Mr. O'Connor met with Pakistani military officials in Islamabad on Friday. A leading Canadian newspaper, the Globe and Mail, reports that Mr. O'Connor recommended that Canadian troops be stationed in Pakistan, and that some Pakistani officers be stationed with Canadian forces in Afghanistan. He said that the exchange would help to share intelligence on both sides of the border. Pakistan insurgents are suspected of crossing the border to attack NATO forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan has unofficially allowed a limited number of American forces to search for militants on its territory.
Monday Apr 3, 2006 nyt Civil War Festers in Remote Pakistan Province Pakistan has diverted troops from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban to the province, where civil unrest is spreading.
Separate bomb blasts in southwestern Pakistan killed 10 people on Sunday. Thirteen others were injured. Among those killed were five tribal police. Two successive bomb explosions at a state-run farm in the town of Kohlu, 300 kilometres east of Quetta, killed three civilians and injured seven others. Local officials blamed the attack on tribal militants who have waged a sporadic revolt in mineral-rich but sparsely populated province of Baluchistan. About 8,000 opposition party activists held a rally on Sunday in Quetta, the provincial capital. They demanded an end to military operations in the province.
Monday Mar 6, 2006 bbc Bush praises Pakistan terror role US President George W Bush has praised Pakistan's role in the war on terror, but said more needed to be done to defeat al-Qaeda.
Saturday, March 4, 2006
nyt Pakistan Is Tense as Bush Arrives on 24-Hour Visit The visit threatened to further roil a nation still seething over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish paper.
Monday Jan 16, 2006 nyt Strike Aimed at Qaeda Figure Stirs More Pakistan Protests By CARLOTTA GALL and DOUGLAS JEHL American officials said they believed senior Qaeda officials died in the Friday attack, perhaps even the group's No. 2 leader.
Pakistan says al-Qaida No. 2 wasn't at site of U.S. attack A U.S. airstrike on a suspected al-Qaida hideout in Pakistan near the Afghan border that killed at least 17 people targeted the terrorist network's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, but the suspect wasn't there, Pakistani officials said Saturday.
2005
Sunday Dec 25, 2005 rci The UN Refugee Agency is stepping up the distribution of cold-weather supplies to the victims of October's earthquake in Pakistan. The agency says that despite its best efforts, thousands of survivors are still unprepared to weather the freezing temperatures gripping the Himalayan mountain villages. The quake, Pakistan's worst natural disaster ever, left over 73,000 people dead and an estimated 3,5 million homeless. Last month the UN launched an appeal for international aid for the quake victims. Only 40 percent of the 550 million dollars needed has so far been pledged.
A propos the evangelical church in Texas that operates "Hell House", Alexandra Tcheremenska writes: "Interesting comment especially in light of the muslim clerics using the Pakistan earthquake as a tool to increase faith - they explain the earthquake as a message from Allah (in the holy month of Ramadan) that there are too many sinners amongst them. Even children's deaths are explained away as symbolic punishment of the parents for raising the kids in sinful ways. Apparently all that is creating quite the emotional havoc and the pakistani psychiatrists are quite concerned that these interpretations do more harm than good and do not allow people to recover from the disaster."
Friday Oct 28, 2005 rci Canada's minister for international co-operation, Aileen Carroll, has announced that Canada has increased its aid to help the survivors of Pakistan's earthquake earlier this month by $20 million, bringing the total Canadian aid to $57 million. The new money will be for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in the affected areas of Kashmir in northeastern Pakistan. Mrs. Carroll's announcement comes as the UN holds a donors' conference in Geneva to help Pakistan recover from the disaster. Representatives of some 60 donor nations have promised $525 million for Pakistan. However, most of the money is intended for reconstruction and it's unclear how much aid will arrive in Kashmir before winter begins.
Sunday Oct 16, 2005 rci Pakistan on Saturday raised the number of people killed last weekend in a catastrophic earthquake to 38,000. The latest figure takes into account casualties in remote mountain valleys and in the town of Balakot. It's expected that more bodies will be found once some routes are cleared of landslides. About 62,000 people were injured. Military officials estimate that two million people are homeless and in need of help. Makeshift tent cities have formed around the city of Muzaffarabad where refugees are burning anything handy to stay warm and to cook. Aid workers were hampered on Saturday by heavy rainfall that also delayed helicopter relief efforts. In the mountains of Kashmir, snow fell. Some outlying villages have yet to be reached. Rescue workers have stopped the official search for survivors, but individual efforts continue. There have been hundreds of aftershocks in the past week, including a magnitude-five earthquake early on Saturday.
Wednesday Oct 12, 2005 ts Wads of cash, hearts of gold MANSEHRA, Pakistan?It may be better to give than to receive, but in an earthquake zone charitable donations can be a painful experience.
Sunday Oct 2, 2005 rci India and Pakistan will sign agreements next week to improve trust between their armed forces. One accord will compel each country to give advance warning of ballistic missile tests. The agreements are expected to be signed during a four-day visit by India's foreign minister, Natwar Singh, to Pakistan starting on Sunday. Another accord will establish a hotline between the coast guards of the two countries. The two sides recently agreed to set up a hotline to stop an accidental nuclear exchange. As news of the agreements was reported, there came other news that 19 people had been killed in the latest violence in Indian Kashmir. Four of the victims were Indian soldiers gunned down in a firefight with suspected Islamic rebels on the border between India and Pakistan.
Wednesday Aug 17, 2005 rci The president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, is making his first visit to South Asia since assuming office. He is currently in Pakistan, where he's expected to focus on women's issues, poverty, education and rural infrastructure. He is also scheduled to meet with president Pervez Musharraf. After Pakistan, Mr. Wolfowitz visits India and Balgladesh.
Tuesday May 24, 2005 ec An alleged boom in Islamic schooling may have been overstated PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, Pakistan's president, this week let it be known that he would like to stay in power even after his current term expires in 2007. Supporters of the general, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, have long been campaigning for this outcome. They present their man, who preaches a gospel of “enlightened moderation”, as a bulwark against Islamic extremism—whose rise, in this traditionally moderate Muslim nation, gives America nightmares.
Monday May 23, 2005 rci Pakistan on Saturday unveiled a bold proposal aimed at reaching a deal with India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. President Pervez Mushharraf outlined the proposal in a major speech in Islamabad. He called for the complete demilitarization of Kashmir by militants and by the military and proposed that greater autonomy be granted to the territory. Mr. Musharraf's proposals came as a surprise. He has long favored divison of the region along religious lines. At least four Indian soldiers were killed on Friday in Indian-administered Kashmir. More than 40,000 people have died in the 14-year-long dispute.
Thursday May 12, 2005 rci Officials from India and Pakistan are said to be close to signing an agreement to launch a new bus service between their border cities of Lahore and Amritsar. Currently anyone wishing to go to Amritsar must first travel to the Indian capital New Delhi. Last month, bus service was restarted between their respective regions of disputed Kashmir after a 60-year interruption. Indo-Pakistan relations continue to improve ever since both sides started a peace process in January 2004.
Sunday Oct 3, 2004 A bomb explosion inside a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Pakistan has killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 50 others. Police are blaming a suicide bomber who was representing an extremist Sunni Muslim group. A second bomb was found inside a briefcase at the scene and defused. The attack occurred in the city of Sialkot, about 170 kilometres south-east of Islamabad. The bomb exploded as worshippers were conducting Friday morning prayers. In an angry protest, several hundred Shi'ite Muslims went on a rampage, setting cars on fire and hurling stones. Earlier this year, Sunni extremists staged a series of attacks on Shi'ite mosques in Karachi. It's believed that the extremists are working with the al-Qaeda terrorist group to attack Pakistan's government over its support for American strikes against al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.
Thursday 11 Mar 2004 ec The man in the middle One of America's most important partners in the war against terror, Pakistan is also one of its biggest worries
Wednesday 10 Mar 2004 ts Pakistani missile able to strike deep in India
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan yesterday test-fired the most advanced missile in its arsenal, capable of delivering a nuclear warhead deep inside rival India.
Monday 23 Feb 2004 Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said Sunday the architect of the
country's atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was "covering up" for
President Pervez Musharraf by publicly confessing to transferring
nuclear technology to other countries. Ms. Bhutto, an arch-foe of
Gen. Musharraf, suggested that Dr. Khan's life could be in danger
"because he knows too much about the people who ordered him to export
nuclear technology." She made the accusation in London on BBC
television.
Tuesday Feb 3, 2004 A Pakistani official told the Agence France Press news agency in
Islamabad Sunday the country's nuclear pioneer Abdul Qadeer Khan and
four others have confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to groups
working for Iran, Libya and North Korea. The official said the
information was leaked between 1986 and 1993. He said an 11-page
report carrying the confessions has been submitted to President
Pervez Musharraf. The official said it was not yet clear whether Dr.
Khan had admitted to giving centrifuge designs for uranium enrichment
to Iran and Libya. Another government official said Gen. Musharraf
may address the nation soon after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha
begins Monday.
2003
Tuesday Dec 23, 2003 cbc PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS JOSTLE EGYPT'S FOREIGN MINISTER
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher flew home from Jerusalem Monday,
four hours after he was attacked by Muslim demonstrators angry over his
trip designed to restart the peace process.
Saturday Dec 20, 2003 bbc Pakistani women to marry freely Pakistan's supreme court has declared that adult Muslim women can marry anyone of their own free will.
The ruling overturns an earlier verdict by a high court that described such a marriage without the permission of a father or brother as invalid.
Pakistan's human rights campaigners have fought against the verdict for about six years.
Fri Dec 19, 2003 bbc Pakistan set to abandon call for referendum on Kashmir
Musharraf's offer the latest peace overture to India President says he's now willing to be `bold and flexible'
Monday Dec 8, 2003 President Pervez Musharraf Sunday hinted at a possible meeting with
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the sidelines of next
month's regional summit in Islamabad. Mr. Musharraf said he would
meet with Mr. Vajpayee if the Indian president wishes to do so. Mr.
Vajpayee has written to his Pakistani counterpart, Zafarrulah Jamali,
confirming his participation in a regional summit next month with
Pakistan welcoming it. Mr. Vajpayee has also said he would meet Mr.
Jamali on the sidelines of the summit, but there has been no
indication of a meeting with Mr. Musharraf. Mr. Vajpayee and Mr.
Musharraf last held a peace summit in July 2001 in the northern
Indian city of Agra. However, the talks collapsed over Kashmir.
Monday Nov 24, 2003 Pakistan Sunday announced a cease-fire on the Line of Control that
divides the disputed region of Kashmir with India. Pakistan's prime
minister said forces will stop firing from the Islamic holiday that
marks the end of Ramadan. That's predicted to be either Tuesday or
Wednesday. The prime minister said he expects India will make a
positive response to the announcement. Pakistan also said it will
welcome Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to a regional
summit in Islamabad in January even if the rival countries make no
progress in restoring air links.
Sunday Oct 5, 2003 Pakistan has test-fired a short-range ballistic missile capable of
carrying nuclear warheads. It's the first of several such tests
planned for the next few days. Washington has called on both Pakistan
and India to start talking about confidence-building measures rather
than engage in missile tests. Tensions with nuclear rival India have
eased somewhat this year after the two countries moved close to war
in 2002. However, progress toward peace talks has been stymied,
partly because of renewed violence in the disputed region of Kashmir.
Ballistic missile tests by Pakistan and India have raised
international concern that war would break out between the two
countries. They have already fought three wars since they were
separated in 1947. A fourth war last year was averted by intense
U.S.-led international efforts that brought about a pullback of
troops from their common border.
Tuesday Sep 23, 2003 Pakistan on Saturday formally invited India's Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee to a regional summit in January. The meeting between
Mr. Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would be the
first between the two leaders in more than two years.
Monday Sep 15, 2003 President Pervez Musharraf Saturday asked India to initiate a dialogue with Pakistan "without delay" to resolve all outstanding disputes between the two nuclear rivals. A Pakistani newspaper quoted Mr. Musharraf as saying "the ball in in India's court, including the core Kashmir problem." On another matter, Mr. Musharraf dismissed reports that extremist elements have contacts inside the country's powerful army.
Friday Sep 12, 2003 OTTAWA: PAKISTANI PRESIDENT TO VISIT
Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, will start a three-day visit
to Canada on Sept. 24. Mr. Musharraf will discuss the situation in
Afghanistan with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and several of
his ministers. Mr. Musharraf discussed the same subject last week in
Islamabad with Canada's foreign minister, Mr. Graham. The Pakistani
president is also scheduled to deliver a speech on counter-terrorism
and regional security. Canada has 1,900 troops in Kabul as part of
the international peacekeeping mission in the Afghan capital. In
recent months, Taliban fighters have been staging an increasing
number of attacks against Afghan government forces. Many are assumed
to be based across the border in Pakistan, in an area where the
Pakistani authorities have little control.
Tuesday Aug 5, 2003
Bhutto sentenced in Switzerland
A Swiss judge hands suspended jail terms to former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband for money laundering.
Wed, 06 Aug 2003 cbc BHUTTO CONVICTED OF MONEY LAUNDERING
A Swiss magistrate has found former Pakistan prime minister Benazir
Bhutto and her jailed husband guilty of money laundering.
EGG has completed its first phase of assessment in Pakistan. It has begun conversations with a variety of government ministries, NGOs, and donors to sponsor a conference setting the agenda for reformation of government schools, emphasizing the importance of community participation. EGG has also initiated conversations with the Human Development Commission, a national commission founded by the President of Pakistan to establish a national strategy for promoting health and education in the country, to identify local NGOs that would test the MAYA methodology there. EGG will launch a project in one of the four provinces late in EGG's year 2003-4. These projects will increase transparency and provide information on government schools for the public, promote community and parent participation in the schools, and encourage public schools to make a commitment to community and parental participation.
Tuesday Apr 1, 2003 bbc N Korea rights 'worse than Iraq'
An official US report on human rights finds that North Korea is probably the worst violator, with Iraq coming close.
Tuesday Mar 4, 2003 Pakistan's interior minister says a suspected al-Qaida leader remains
in Pakistan. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is being interrogated by US and
Pakistani agents. He and two other suspected al-Qaida members were
arrested near Islamabad on Saturday. US law enforcement officials
believe Mr. Mohammed planned the September 11th 2001 terrorist
attacks on New York and Washington.
Monday Dec 30, 2002 cbc MUSHARRAF SAYS PAKISTAN WAS READY TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The president of Pakistan said Monday he had been prepared to use
nuclear weapons against India if soldiers had crossed into Pakistan's
territory earlier this year.
Nov 21st 2002 cbc PAKISTANI PARLIAMENT CHOOSES MODERATE PM
Pakistan's parliament elected Zafarullah Khan Jamali as its prime
minister Thursday, rejecting a pro-Taliban candidate.
Monday Nov 11, 2002 rci PAKISTAN
Five Islamic militants pleaded not guilty today to killing 12 people
in a car bomb attack in the Pakistani city of Karachi. The five are
accused of carrying out the June 14th attack on the U.S. consulate,
which killed 12 Pakistanis. Their trial begins November 19th. Also in
Pakistan, the country's pro-military political party and the
religious right have begun talks in Islamabad on forming a civilian
government. Earlier talks stalled after the alliance of hardline
Islamic parties insisted it lead such a coalition. That prospect
alarmed financial markets and backers of the U.S.-led war on
terrorism.
Friday Nov 8, 2002 ec Make my day (or government) Politics is deadlocked between Islamists, moderates and the military
The opening of Pakistan's new parliament was delayed indefinitely, apparently to provide time for a government to be formed acceptable to the military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf.
Sunday Oct 20, 2002 cbc PAKISTAN MATCHES INDIAN PROMISE TO WITHDRAW TROOPS
In a move to reduce tensions in the region, Pakistan announced Thursday
it would withdraw troops along the border with India to "peacetime
locations." India gave a similar assurance on Wednesday.
Monday Oct 14, 2002 ec Pakistan's election
Pakistan's general election, which President Pervez Musharraf tried to “engineer”, instead produced a strong anti-American grouping in parliament.
India and Pakistan said they would withdraw some of the 1m troops along their common border, easing tension over their claims to Kashmir. Indian
Monday Oct 14, 2002 ed Pakistan
Pakistan has held a general election in which radical Islamic parties did surprisingly well. Keeping them at bay will prove difficult
Sunday Oct 6, 2002 cbc PAKISTAN TEST FIRES BALLISTIC MISSILE
Pakistan conducted another successful ballistic missile test Tuesday,
its second test in less than a week.
Sunday Oct 6, 2002 cbc INDIA AND PAKISTAN CONDUCT MISSILE TESTS
Tension between India and Pakistan has escalated after the nuclear-armed
neighbours each conducted missile tests on Friday.
Sunday Oct 6, 2002 OTTAWA: CANADA CONDEMNS PAKISTANI MISSILE TEST
Canada has condemned Pakistan for having conducted another missile
test. The foreign minister, Mr. Graham, says it's unfortunate that
Pakistan has chosen to test its Shaheen-1 ballistic missile at a time
when tensions remain high between it and India. Mr. Graham says it's
particularly unhelpful when the international community is seeking to
lower tensions between the rivals in the subcontinent. Mr. Graham
urged Pakistan to abide by a United Nations resolution passed after
both countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998. Resolution 1172 calls
on India and Pakistan to avoid provocations, to stop developing
nuclear arms and ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear
weapons. Mr. Graham also notes that while the test of India's
conventional Akash surface-to-air missile doesn't violate the
resolution, it also isn't conducive to reducing tensions.
Tuesday Sep 17, 2002 cbc PALESTINIAN ECONOMY NEAR COLLAPSE: UN REPORT
A United Nations report says recurrent border closures and curfews in
the West Bank and Gaza have helped plunge the Palestinian territories
into an economic crisis.
Monday Sep 16, 2002 cbc INDIA, PAKISTAN LAYING HUGE NUMBER OF MINES: REPORT
Fewer countries are exporting landmines, but India and Pakistan are in
the middle of what could be the biggest deployment of mines in decades,
a watchdog group says.
Thursday Jul 4, 2002 rci ISLAMABAD: CANADA, PAKISTAN APPROACH DEBT
FORGIVENESS DEAL
The government of Pakistan says it is close to
reaching an accord with Canada regarding its debt
to that country. The government in Islamabad has
issued a statement saying it expects to reach a
deal on its $447-million debt to Canada within
days. The government made that declaration after
a meeting in the Pakistani capital between
Pakistan's finance minister, Shaukat Aziz, and
Canada's minister of international co-operation,
Susan Whelan. Mr. Aziz says his country's debt to
Canada will be converted into joint social
programs for health, education and women's
education. The joint programs are to be
co-ordinated by the Canadian International
Development Agency. After her meeting with Mr.
Aziz, Mrs. Whelan announced a new joint program
worth $15.4 million for women's rights, education
and HIV-AIDS care for Pakistani women and Afghan
refugees.
Thursday Jul 4, 2002 rci INDIA
India claims infiltrators are still crossing its
border with Pakistan, which denies it. India's
foreign minister, Yashwant Sinha, says
infiltration levels have returned to where they
were before Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
promised to stop infiltration on May 24. Mr.
Sinha says his country reserves the right to
respond appropriately. Mr. Musharraf said last
month that infiltrators have stopped crossing the
Line of Control separating India's part of the
disputed territory of Kashmir from Pakistan's. On
Wednesday, the foreign ministry in Islamabad
accused India of trying to distract the attention
of the world community from the fact that it has
not acted to defuse the crisis.
Tuesday Jun 4, 2002 nyt Can Pakistan Avoid Sliding Into War?
By MICHAEL KREPON
Nuclear security, the successful prosecution of the war against Al Qaeda and regional stability in South Asia all demand demonstrable changes in Pakistan's failed Kashmir policy.
Wednesday May 29, 2002 PAKISTAN COMPLETES THIRD MISSILE TEST
Pakistan fired a short-range missile Tuesday, as India's defence
minister accused that country of harbouring Taliban and al-Qaeda
fighters.
Monday May 27, 2002 ec Show of force
Pakistan's test-firing of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles
has served as a further reminder of the potential for nuclear conflict
with India. But might a belligerent stance also provide cover for a
crackdown on militant groups?
Friday May 24, 2002 ec Fasten your seatbelts
Fears of a war between India and Pakistan, along with new warnings
about terrorist attacks on America, have given the world's
financial markets a collective attack of nerves. The world's big
currencies have suddenly grown more volatile and at least one central
bank has intervened to try to calm the markets. But could the latest
uncertainty also signal the long-predicted decline of the dollar?
Monday May 13, 2002 bbc France remembers car bomb victims
President Chirac attends a memorial ceremony for 11 engineers killed in a suicide car bomb attack in Pakistan.
Monday May 13, 2002 bbc Teaching goes virtual in Pakistan
Pakistan is investing millions of dollars in distance learning over TV and the internet to create a generation of computer science graduates.
Friday May 3, 2002 economist Reuters Vote of low confidence
A referendum gave General Pervez Musharraf a further five years as president of Pakistan, but a low poll may have damaged his reputation. The general took power in a coup in 1999.
Wednesday May 1, 2002 rci MUSHARRAF HEADED FOR LANDSLIDE IN PAKISTAN REFERENDUM ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's president appears headed for an
overwhelming victory in a referendum to extend his rule by five
more years. With almost 430,000 votes counted, about 80 per cent
supported General Perves Musharraf. Pakistani voters cast their
ballots Tuesday. Opposition parties called the referendum a
farce. They asked people to boycott the vote and turnout was
reported as low. Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup in
1999. He was expected to win but he was hoping for a high
turnout that would add to the legitimacy of his rule. Pakistani
Information Minister Nisar Memon predicted a 25 per cent
turnout. Opposition parties have called on Musharraf to step
down. Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, head of the 15-party Alliance
for Restoration of Democracy, said the low turnout was the
"verdict of the people". About 70 million Pakistanis were
eligible to vote. The government-run Electoral Commission
relaxed voting rules to encourage them to get out to the polling
stations. They set up an unprecedented 87,000 polling stations -
some in unusual places such as gas stations, hospitals and
prisons.
Thursday Apr 11, 2002 bbc Global steel trade war hots up
Tokyo asks the US to rethink its policy on steel import tariffs, as 25 WTO members prepare to protest formally to Washington.
Links to more South Asia stories
BBC
Friday Apr 5, 2002 cbc General election
Pakistan is to hold a referendum on extending President Pervez Musharraf's rule for five years. The self-appointed president took power in October 1999, ousting the elected government. Opposition parties said the referendum would be unconstitutional and that they would call for a boycott.
Monday Feb 18, 2002 cbc U.S. JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED IN PAKISTAN IS DEAD
U.S. President George Bush has called the murder of kidnapped Wall
Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl "barbaric" and says the killing
will only strengthen Washington's resolve to root out terrorists.
Monday Feb 18, 2002 cbc POLICE FIND ROCKETS AIMED AT KARACHI AIRPORT
Police in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi say they found four
rockets aimed towards the country's main international airport.
Thursday Feb 14 economist PAKISTANI PRESIDENT GIVEN WARM WHITE HOUSE WELCOME
U.S. President George W. Bush welcomed Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf to the White House on Wednesday. Since Sept. 11, relations
between Pakistan and the U.S. have steadily improved after years of
tension, because Pakistan was an early and pivotal supporter in Bush's
war against terrorism.
Thursday Feb 14 economist Pakistan: From pariah to American partner
General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, is visiting America and picking up the plaudits due an important American ally in the war in Afghanistan. But the makeover of the unelected general’s image is not complete, and still depends on his handling of relations with India and Afghanistan
Saturday Jan 12 cbc MANLEY ARRIVES IN PAKISTAN AFTER PLANE DELAY
Deputy Prime Minister John Manley began a 10-day trip to southwest Asia
Friday, hoping to ease tensions between India and Pakistan.
Saturday Jan 12 Islam in Pakistan
economist In an effort to please India, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan
dropped the term "freedom fighters" in a reference to attacks in
Indian-held KASHMIR and said he rejected all terrorism. But India
continued to build up its forces on its border with Pakistan.
Saturday Jan 12 PAKISTAN MANACLES MOSQUES TO COMBAT TERRORISM' cbc
Hours after a police crackdown on suspected militants, Pakistan's
president declared Saturday that his country won't be used as a base for
terrorism or Muslim extremism.
Tuesday January 8th 2002 Talking them down economist
Despite handshakes between their leaders at a regional summit, and
intensive international diplomacy, India and Pakistan have yet to pull
back from the brink in their latest confrontation over the disputed
territory of Kashmir
Jan 7 MUSHARRAF SAYS PAKISTAN 'REJECTS ALL FORMS OF TERRORISM' cbc
British Prime Minister Tony Blair heard what he was hoping to hear in
Islamabad on Monday. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf categorically
rejecting terrorism.
Wednesday, January 2 Slight Easing of India-Pakistan Tension Tension on the sub-continent between India and Pakistan has eased slightly after Pakistan's decision to detain more than 100 Islamic activists. Both India and Pakistan are now down-playing the extreme rhetoric of the past week. Australia's ABC has more.
Friday Jan 4 Pakistan rounds up militants bbc
Police in Pakistan detain another 120 Islamic militants, including several from groups linked to the suicide attack on the Indian parliament.
Sunday, December 30, 2001 Bush seeks to avert South Asia war The Ottawa Citizen
Pakistan threatens India with 'massive casualties' if forced to retaliate by Mike Shahin
Dec 19, 2001 INDIA TALKS WAR WITH PAKISTAN cp
India's prime minister said on Wednesday that his country is considering
going to war with neighbouring Pakistan. Atal Bihari Vajpayee blames
Pakistan for the shooting at the Indian parliament last week.
Dec 20, 2001 India and Pakistan Who will strike first? economist
Tension continued between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. A ceasefire was called off by India: groups based in Pakistan were accused by India of atrocities at the Parliament buildings in Srinagar and in Delhi. But General Pervez Musharraf, who declared himself president of Pakistan, found his dictatorial status no longer worried the West after he joined America's war against terrorism.
Be sure to see the 'Ariel Sharon' in the Economist 'Get article background' on this story
Saturday Dec 15, 2001 PARLIAMENT BOMBING RAISES TENSIONS BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN cbc
Indian officials are blaming Pakistan's intelligence agency for
masterminding a suicide bombing in the Indian parliament this week that
killed 13 people. Police say the information came from four people who
were arrested in connection with the attack.
Wednesday Dec 5, 2001 PAKISTAN TO SHUT DOWN MILITANT ISLAMIC SCHOOLS ap
Pakistan is planning to crack down on Islamic fundamentalists and their
religious schools as part of the government's anti-terrorism act.
Dec 4, 2001 PAKISTAN TO SHUT DOWN MILITANT ISLAMIC SCHOOLS
Pakistan is planning to crack down on Islamic fundamentalists and their
religious schools as part of the government's anti-terrorism act.
Wednesday Nov 28, 2001 How Secure Is Pakistan's Plutonium?
By MANSOOR IJAZ and R. JAMES WOOLSEY
The United States should export its methods for guarding nuclear materials.
Sunday, November 25, 2001 Hundreds of foreign fighters slaughtered in prison uprising in Mazar-e-SharifMAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) - Northern alliance forces and U.S. air strikes put down a reported prison riot Sunday by foreign pro-Taliban captives from the northern city of Kunduz. Officials said most of the 300 prisoners were killed.
November 13, 2001 In Pakistan, It's Jihad 101 nyt by
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN The real war for peace in Pakistan is in the schools. ...You need only spend an afternoon walking through the Storytellers' Bazaar here in Peshawar, a few miles from the Afghan border, to understand that America needs to do its business in Afghanistan — eliminate Osama bin Laden and his Taliban pro tectors — as quickly as possible and get out of here. This is not a neighborhood where we should linger. This is not Mr. Rogers's neighborhood.
November 10, 2001 Islam Experts Off on a Wild Ride, Willing or Not nyt "I had just finished a quiet year of research at Princeton and then suddenly I was thrown in the deep end of the pool," he said. As a scholar of Islam, a Pakistani diplomat and a former governor of a region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan, Mr. Ahmed was in hot demand. "I even found myself called up in the presence of her majesty of American culture, Oprah Winfrey herself," Mr. Ahmed said, speaking of an appearance on her show called "Islam 101." After his appearance on the show, Mr. Ahmed's recent book, "Islam Today: a Short Introduction to the Muslim World," published by I.B. Tauris, a small, scholarly British press, suddenly became one of the top 40 sellers on Amazon.com.
November 09, 2001 Pakistan's Islamic fundamentalists stage strike, demand president's ouster cp ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Protesting the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan, thousands of Islamic fundamentalists blocked roads, burned tires and stoned cars in a nationwide strike Friday that kept most Pakistanis off the streets of major cities.
The demonstrators, who demanded the ouster of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, provoked a sharp response from police. Scores of protesters were arrested; four were shot and killed outside the central city of D.G. Khan.
November 09, 2001 Beware of Icebergs nyt By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
To win the war in Afghanistan, we will have to navigate alliances where what you see on the surface is only a sliver of what you might get ...Who knows? But the more I see of Pakistan, the more I realize the iceberg image is useful — because what you see popping out on the surface often bears little relation to what lurks below. Here's what I mean:
On the surface, President Musharraf has made a courageous 180-degree turn, from supporting the Taliban to joining the U.S. coalition to destroy the Taliban and bin Laden. What lurks beneath the Pakistani president, though, is less clear. There is really only one institution in Pakistan — the army. For now, that Pakistani Army seems to have moved all 180 degrees with the president — but the Pakistani silent majority has not. And the Pakistani Army, whose leadership is still Western-oriented but whose base is increasingly affected by Islamic trends, will be influenced by that silent majority, particularly the religious parties.
Nov 2, 2001
ANTHRAX SENT TO PAKISTANI NEWSPAPER
The threat of anthrax has reached Pakistan. A letter that arrived at the
offices of the country's largest newspaper has tested positive for the
bacteria, the newspaper said on Friday.
Nov 1, 2001
BIN LADEN URGES PAKISTANIS TO FIGHT CHRISTIANS
The man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks against the United
States is calling on all Muslims in Pakistan to rise up against
Christians, Arab TV reported Thursday.
October 22, 2001
PAKISTAN GUNFIRE REPELS AFGHAN REFUGEES Hundreds of people trying to flee Afghanistan were forced back Sunday by Pakistani border guards who opened fire as the crowd pressed forward.
October 16, 2001
Powell, in Pakistan, Focuses on Shape of Post-Taliban Regime Under tight security, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell arrived in the Pakistan capital this evening after telling reporters en route that, "We are getting ready for the possibility that sometime in the near future there could be a need to respond to the collapse of the government, if one could call that evil regime a government."
The remark appeared to reflect the administration's current intense focus on the political future of Afghanistan. Military planning for bombing the country has increasingly been complicated by the absence of a clear proposal for an eventual new government to replace the radical Islamic Taliban.
10/15/01 POWELL VISITS PAKISTAN AS VIOLENCE FLARES IN KASHMIR
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Islamabad on Monday
following a weekend of violent anti-U.S. protests in Pakistan and
renewed violence in the Kashmir region.
10/11/01 U.S. FORCES IN PAKISTAN, PROTESTS SET FOR FRIDAY
Islamic groups in Pakistan have called for protests against the
stationing of American troops at military bases in the country.
FULL STORY:
Wed 10/11/01 Can Pakistan's Leader Hold On? With Pakistan's pro-Taliban policy buried in the wreckage of the World Trade Center, President Pervez Musharraf has struggled to put Pakistan back on track and restore the badly bruised relationship with the United States. Joining the antiterrorist coalition may prove to be a fateful choice, one that opens onto a future of more difficult choices.
Mr. Musharraf's declaration yesterday that "no extremist activity will be tolerated in any quarter of Pakistan"
Wed 10/8/01 PAKISTAN WAITS FOR NEWS FROM KABUL
At daybreak on Monday, Pakistani officials were waiting to see how the
overnight attacks in Afghanistan would play out in their streets.
Wed 10/7/01 PAKISTAN BRACES FOR MORE ANTI-U.S. PROTESTS
Taliban supporters in Pakistan called for a "holy war" against the U.S.
and its allies late Sunday as soon as the air strikes began against
neighbouring Afghanistan.
Wed 10/5/01 BLAIR MEETS MUSHARRAF TO SHORE UP SUPPORT
British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrapped up his diplomatic mission to
Pakistan Friday, saying any military response to September's terrorist
attacks on the U.S. would be proportionate, and would not be directed
against the Afghan people.
Wed 10/3/01 PAKISTAN HOPES FOR POSITIVE OUTCOME TO COMING CONFLICT
Officials in Pakistan are increasingly convinced that U.S. military
strikes against Afghanistan are inevitable and imminent, and they're
hoping for the best possible outcome.
Friday, September 28, 2001 Pakistani delegation meets Taliban leader to press for bin Laden's surrender ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani religious and government figures met Afghanistan's rulers Friday to try to press them to surrender Osama bin Laden or force him to leave the country. The talks ended with no sign that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had softened his stance.
29/Sep/2001 U.S. TOO STUBBORN, TALIBAN TELL PAKISTAN
Senior religious and government officials from Pakistan failed to
persuade Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to hand over suspected terrorist
Osama bin Laden on Friday. cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/09/28/pak_afghan010928
27/Sep/2001 DAY OF SOLIDARITY DECLARED IN PAKISTAN
The Pakistani government has declared a day of solidarity in an effort
to counter the backlash against its decision to back the United States
in its battle against terrorism.
cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2001/09/27/pakistan010927
Andy Nulman 
BBC
Radio Netherlands
Factsheet 
Watch Musharraf key moments
An alleged boom in Islamic schooling may have been overstated
The man in the middle
PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS JOSTLE EGYPT'S FOREIGN MINISTER
Pakistani women to marry freely
BHUTTO CONVICTED OF MONEY LAUNDERING
ANTI-WAR RALLY DRAWS TENS OF THOUSANDS IN PAKISTAN
MUSHARRAF SAYS PAKISTAN WAS READY TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
FUNDAMENTALIST COALITION SEEKS ELECTION SUCCESS IN PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN COMPLETES THIRD MISSILE TEST
Global steel trade war hots up 
General election
Talking them down
India and Pakistan Who will strike first?
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