Pakistan News

Pakistan’s Supreme Court is to charge Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani with contempt for failing to reopen corruption cases against the president. Mr Gilani must appear before the court on 13 February. If convicted he faces jail and being barred from office.

The prime minister has refused to ask Swiss officials to reopen a corruption case against President Zardari, saying he has immunity as head of state.

Pakistan says it has no “hidden agenda” in Afghanistan and has rejected as “frivolous” allegations that it is supporting Afghan Taliban insurgents in their deadly attacks on NATO forces.

At the end of her day-long talks with Afghan officials in Kabul Wednesday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told reporters that her country wants peace and stability in Afghanistan, saying continued conflict in the neighboring country is “a threat to the existence of Pakistan”.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a one-day visit to Kabul Wednesday aimed at warming frosty ties between the two neighbours. More >

Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani will be traveling to Abu Dhabi then to the US via a private airline. According to sources, Haqqani will be taken to the airport with a security escort provided by the Islamabad police.

On Monday, the Supreme Court lifted travel restrictions on Haqqani under the condition that he appear before the memo commission whenever summoned and should do so within four days of the notice.

Former president Pervez Musharraf finally has decided to cancel his arrival to the country, sources said on Friday. The decision was taken in party’s core committee meeting held in Dubai. All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) leader Barrister Saif has said that the committee has forced the party chairman (Musharraf) to cancel his visit, though he is not happy over the decision but he accepted. Earlier on January 8, the former president had announced that he will come to Pakistan not for himself, but to bring happiness to the masses and solidarity to the country.

India and Pakistan said on Wednesday they were now closer to an agreement on a pipeline to import gas from Turkmenistan, signalling a further warming of economic ties between the two countries.

Turkmenistan has the world’s fourth-largest gas reserves and energy-hungry India and Pakistan are both eager to tap this source through the pipeline that would run through the Central Asian nation’s eastern neighbour, Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s premier withdrew an accusation that the army chief acted unconstitutionally in a further sign Wednesday that a damaging standoff between the government and the military is coming to a close.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani released the remarks following talks with army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani and intelligence chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

A probe into a major scandal threatening Pakistan’s president on Tuesday appeared at risk of collapsing as investigators ruled out travelling abroad to hear the testimony of the star witness. More >

Pakistan on Monday sternly rejected an American account of a deadly NATO airstrike in November, an incident that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at a post near the Afghan border and severely strained ties between the long-wary allies.

In a terse formal report, the Pakistani military maintained its previously stated position that coalition forces conducting a ground raid in Afghanistan carried sole blame for a clash that it said was “deliberate at some level.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the judges of the Supreme Court acquitted themselves well during their highly publicised meeting on Thursday. With both sides stating their views firmly, within the context of the legal interpretations, as they saw it, the prime minister got the benefit of buying valuable time, till February 1.

The several legal and political challenges that this government faces cannot be emphasised enough. With the threat of early elections looming, it is fighting tooth and nail to become the first civilian government to complete a full term.