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The situation in Pakistan continues to worsen . Could this be the beginning of the end of military rule in that country and, if so, what next?
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2009
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.
Friday 22 August 2008 Party Picks Bhutto Widower for Pakistan President
The country’s main ruling party put forward Asif Ali Zardari as its candidate for the Sept. 6 vote to replace Pervez Musharraf.
Friday 22 August 2008
The troubled era of Pervez Musharraf comes to an end. New troubles begin
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.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is resigning after nine years in power, amid impeachment charges based on claims he violated the constitution.
UK urges Pakistan reform
Musharraf's mixed legacy
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.
Sunday 29 June 2008 Pakistan's Negotiations With Militants Upset U.S.
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.
Pakistan Coalition in Talks on Judges May 1, 2008 more photos
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.
Pakistan is 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.
Friday 22 February 2008 dianaswednesday akistan-post-2008-elections/
Friday Feb 22, 2008 Pakistani parties put aside differences to rule together
Putting aside decades of bitter differences, pro-Bhutto and anti-Bhutto forces agreed "in principle" ...
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 (P
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