Fri, 06/26/2009 - 11:53 by preet_20
Islamabad, June 26: Visiting US National Security Advisor Gen. James L. Jones said his country was committed to a long-term partnership with Pakistan.
Jones made the remarks after meeting top Pakistani civilian and military officials in the past two days.
His two-day visit to the country focused on implementing President Barak Obama's "comprehensive regional engagement strategy while strengthening the US-Pakistan relationship", a statement issued by the American embassy here said.
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Thu, 06/25/2009 - 10:11 by preet_20
Islamabad, June 25: Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik is here to help finalise the dates and the agenda for the forthcoming India-Pakistan talks, a media report said Thursday.
Malik, who met Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon in New Delhi Tuesday to decide on the dates for the proposed meeting of the foreign secretaries of the two countries, has arrived here Wednesday to hold consensus regarding the talks, Online news agency reported quoting Pakistan's foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit.
According to Basit, a schedule and agenda for the proposed talks are yet to be discussed.
Sources have informed that the diplomat would also attend an important meeting in the foreign ministry, where he would debate the issue of forthcoming talks.
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Wed, 06/24/2009 - 17:27 by preet_20
Islamabad/Chandigarh, June 24: Pakistan's Supreme Court Wednesday rejected the mercy petition of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who has been on death row for 18 years, after his lawyer failed to appear in court despite being specifically directed to do so.
Sarabjit has been convicted of staging four bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan in 1990 that claimed 14 lives. His only option now would be to file a mercy plea before President Asif Ali Zardari, but given the current uncertain state of Pakistan-India ties, it would be hard to predict how he would react.
The court verdict, delivered by a three-judge bench headed by Justice Raja Fayyaz, left Sarabjit's family in Bhikiwind village in Indian Punjab distraught and they demanded that the Indian government intervene to save his life.
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Tue, 06/23/2009 - 13:43 by preet_20
Islamabad, June 23: Will the Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries meet on the sidelines of the G8 summit beginning in Trieste, Italy, Thursday?
A media report Tuesday suggested this could be possible.
"Hectic efforts are continuing for setting up a date and venue for a meeting between Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and his Indian counterpart Shivshankar Menon before the six-day Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, starting on July 11," Mariana Baabar wrote in The News.
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Tue, 06/23/2009 - 13:27 by preet_20
Peshawar, June 23: Six people were killed and several others injured in a US drone attack Tuesday in the South Waziristan agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border with Afghanistan, a media report said.
Quoting sources, Geo TV said US drones fired three missiles at a house in Ladha sub district, a stronghold of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud.
The attack comes five days after a drone strike near Wana, South Waziristan's largest town, killed at least nine Taliban militants.
The air strikes targeted a militant training facility and a house, an official said.
The Pakistani military, which had swung into South Waziristan last week, is now planning a full scale offensive against Mehsud, whose writ runs over much of the agency.
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Mon, 06/22/2009 - 16:53 by preet_20
Islamabad, June 22: The Pakistan Supreme Court Monday adjourned till Wednesday the hearing of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh's plea against the death penalty handed to him for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts in this country.
A bench of judges Fayyaz Ahmed, Qaim Jan Khan and Zawwar Hussain Jaffery that was to hear the plea also issued notice to Singh's lawyer after he failed to appear in court Monday.
On March 9, 2006, a two-member Supreme Court bench had dismissed Singh's petition against the sentence for his alleged involvement in carrying out four bomb blasts at Lahore in 1990 that killed 14 people.
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Mon, 06/22/2009 - 14:30 by preet_20
Washington, June 22: The Taliban and the Al Qaeda could spread in other parts of the world if they were not defeated in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has warned.
"Pakistan and the world community cannot afford defeat in the war against terror," Zardari wrote in The Washington Post Monday.
Zardari also asked for urgent international assistance, arguing that the world should rally in support of Pakistani democracy.
"We need immediate assistance, Pakistan paid a heavy price more than US and NATO in the anti-terror war," the president wrote.
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Mon, 06/22/2009 - 12:05 by preet_20
Dubai, June 22: The Al Qaeda would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons against the US if it was able to get its hands on them, a top commander of the terror group has said.
"God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the Mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans," said Mustafa Abu al-Yazid in an interview to Al Jazeera channel aired Sunday.
"We expect that the Pakistani army would be defeated (in Swat) ... and that would be its end everywhere, God willing," Iran's Press TV quoted him as saying.
The Pakistani army is battling the Taliban in the North West Frontier Province and the military has claimed significant successes in the operations.
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Sun, 06/21/2009 - 10:12 by preet_20
Washington, June 21: President Barack Obama would like India and Pakistan to have a dialogue to resolve their differences, but the US cannot dictate how they should go about it or mediate in the process.
"I believe that there are opportunities, maybe not starting with Kashmir but starting with other issues, that Pakistan and India can be in a dialogue together and over time to try to reduce tensions and find areas of common interest," Obama told Pakistan's Dawn group in an interview published Sunday.
"And we want to be helpful in that process, but I don't think it's appropriate for us to be the mediators in that process," he said according to the transcript. "I think that this is something that the Pakistanis and Indians can take leadership on."
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Sat, 06/20/2009 - 11:58 by preet_20
New York, June 20: A three-member United Nations panel was set up to investigate the facts and circumstances of the murder of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, but not the crime itself, the UN said Friday.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had informed by letter Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that the Commission of Inquiry will begin work July 1 for a period of six months.
But the UN said it will not be a criminal investigation, which is the responsibility of the Pakistani government.
The commission will submit a report at the end of the period, which will be shared with the Pakistani government and the UN Security Council, for its information.
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Fri, 06/19/2009 - 17:25 by preet_20
Brussels, June 19: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari during a meeting here with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday urged her to play a role for restoration of talks between Islamabad and New Delhi, a media report said.
Apprising her of the ongoing military operation against the Taliban, Zardari said Pakistan wants peace and has continued its offensives against the terrorists, Geo TV said.
The German chancellor has promised aid to Pakistan at the upcoming Friends Conference in Istanbul.
Merkel said her country lauds the role of Pakistan and its army in the ongoing crackdown against the militants.
-IANS
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Thu, 06/18/2009 - 16:56 by preet_20
Islamabad, June 18: Pakistan has lost its Kashmir plank with India bringing on centre stage the need to counter terrorism, an editorial in a leading English daily said Thursday while welcoming the apparent subcontinental thaw after the meeting in Russia between President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"There was a time when Pakistan wanted 'movement' on Kashmir from India. Now India wants 'movement' first, on terrorism," Daily Times said in an editorial headlined 'The message from Yekaterinburg'.
"One phase is over whether Pakistan likes it or not. The next phase is upon us and that is Pakistan's war against Baitullah Mehsud's Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al Qaeda.
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