Sharif gives Pakistan govt. ultimatum

PML-N Chief Mian Mohammed Nawaz Sharif

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158623.html


Pakistan's main opposition Leader Nawaz Sharif has given the Islamabad government three days to agree to key reforms or face collapse.

Pakistan's Muslim League-N chief has threatened to join other opposition parties.

"We are putting forward an interim agenda and demand the government accept or reject it within 72 hours," Sharif said after a meeting of senior members of his party.

The former prime minister has demanded a reverse in recent fuel price hike and a cut in government expenditures.

He also says the government must implement a series of court verdicts against ruling party officials for corruption.

"If the government says no to our demands, then I think it will be a very weak government."

"But we need a strong government, and I think for this, we may need the fresh mandate from the people," he said.

Sharif had earlier said that he would not push for a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Political tensions are running high in Pakistan as calls for Gilani's resignation gain momentum.

Gilani has come under fire for his handling of security in the country.

The developments come days after a key party in Pakistan, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, withdrew from the ruling coalition to join the opposition -- a move that could leave the government short of the majority support in the parliament.

MQM, the dominant political force in the southern port city of Karachi, said the decision was due to the government's poor performance, in particular over corruption issues and the economy.

The recent developments have triggered a political crisis in the south Asian country which has been run by Pakistan People's Party since 2008.

Amid the lingering political crisis, the government in Islamabad is struggling with a growing militancy and economic crisis in the country.

In a separate development, the governor of Punjab Province was killed in a shooting in the capital Islamabad on Tuesday.

Salman Taseer's death is expected to further add to instability in the South Asian country.

Taseer was a high-profile member of the ruling party and a close ally of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Pakistan's PM condemns governor killing

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158614.html


Pakistan's prime minister has strongly condemned the assassination of Punjab governor and ordered an immediate probe into the killing.

"The prime minister has ordered for a high level inquiry into the incident and [to] submit the report at the earliest. The culprits involved in the assassination, he said, would be brought to justice," Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

This comes after the powerful governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was killed in a shooting in the capital of Islamabad on Tuesday. Five other people were also wounded as other security personnel responded to the attack.

Taseer was a high-profile member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and a close ally of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Gilani announced a three-day national mourning period and has called supporters of his PPP to remain calm.

Zardari has announced that the PPP workers will observe two weeks of mourning.

"PPP co-chairman [Zardari] has announced that all party events are cancelled and for the next two weeks, the party will observe mourning," AFP quoted Fauzia Wahab, central Information Secretary of the PPP as saying.

"The party has rendered so many martyrdoms and there is one more," she said.

According to the interior ministry, he was killed because of his opposition to controversial blasphemy laws.

The Islamabad government says some political groups were misusing this law against minorities.

Experts say the uproar over the law has more to do with politics than religion.

The developments come at a time when the Islamabad government is trying to tackle the growing militancy, political instability and economic crisis in the country.

Taseer's death is expected to further add to instability in the country.

Pakistani governor killed in Islamabad

Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province was shot dead in Islamabad

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158588.html


The governor of Pakistan's powerful province of Punjab, Salman Taseer, has been killed by his own bodyguard in the capital Islamabad, police sources say.

Taseer, a senior member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and a close associate of President Asif Ali Zardari, was killed by his own guard in the capital Islamabad on Tuesday, AP quoted police official Mohammad Iftikhar as saying.

The governor was leaving his vehicle when a man from his security squad fired two shots at him.

Taseer then fell, while other police officials fired on the attacker, another police official, Hasan Iqbal told AP.

He was taken to hospital where he died from his injuries.

"Yes he has died," said a spokesman for the governor.

The attack took place near Kohsar market, popular with wealthy Pakistanis and expatriates and close to the governor's Islamabad home.

Five other people were also wounded as other security personnel responded to the attack.

He was killed because of his high-profile opposition to controversial blasphemy laws, said interior minister Rehman Malik.

The assassin, who was a member of Taseer's own security team, "confessed that he killed the governor himself because he had called the blasphemy law a black law," said the interior minister.

"He has confessed his crime and surrendered his gun to police after the attack," he added.

Taseer has recently spoken out against the country's blasphemy law.

Pakistan deep in political turmoil

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/157777.html


The Pakistani president faces political turmoil as he steps up efforts to prevent his ruling coalition from collapse after two major allies left the government.

President Asif Ali Zardari's ruling party is attempting to keep his coalition government intact as senior leaders are pressuring two opposing partners to rejoin the cabinet in meeting.

Zardari met with Faisal Sabzwari, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader, only days after the party withdrew from the government.

The MQM has decided in favor of the resignation of two of its ministers from the cabinet.

The Jamiat Ulema Islam party (JUI) also left the cabinet earlier this month.

The JUI's spokesman Hafiz Hussein Ahmad stressed that the party would only return to the government if the president dismisses Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik, a senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) lawmaker, held crisis meetings with MQM and JUI leaders late Tuesday, urging them to support an increasingly unpopular government, AP reported.

Political analysts say the government will lose the majority in parliament if the two parties join the opposition.

The MQM, with 25 seats in the 342-member national assembly, represents the Urdu-speaking majority in Karachi and shares power in Sindh province and the central government

Pakistan opposes US military raids

Several Pakistani civilians have lost their lives due to the US non-UN-sanctioned attacks inside Pakistani territory.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156591.html


Pakistan has opposed any ground military operations in its territory by US troops amid reports of the US expansion of ground war into the Asian country.

Following a New York Times report on Monday about the US expanding of ground operations across the border into Pakistan's tribal areas, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday Pakistan is capable of confronting militants in its tribal regions.

On Monday, US military officials told the New York Times that American commanders had drawn up plans to attack militant hideouts in Pakistan.

In response to the newspaper report, Pakistan's ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, said, "Pakistani forces are capable of handling the militant threat within our borders and no foreign forces are allowed or required to operate inside our sovereign territory."

The United States has launched scores of airstrikes in Pakistan since 2008, but ground operations have been rare.

Islamabad has repeatedly condemned the aerial raids, saying the attacks undermine the Asian country's sovereignty.

Washington claims the air strikes target militants, however, most of the victims of US non-UN-sanctioned attacks in Pakistan are civilians.

Almost one-thousand Pakistanis have been killed in more than 100 US drone attacks during the past two years.

On Sept. 30, Pakistan, in retaliation to the surge in the US cross-border attacks, closed a key border crossing for 10 days to NATO supply trucks. During the closure of the route, militants intensified their attacks on the NATO trucks and oil tankers.

However, the September Pakistani move against the US-led forces did not stop the United States military from carrying out the drone attacks inside Pakistani territory.

'US to increase presence in Pakistan'

Pakistan says its security forces have killed or detained hundreds of militants over the past few years

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156222.html


Vice President Joe Biden suggests that the US is seeking increase its presence in Pakistan under the pretext that militants seek to “bring down” the Islamabad government.

"Our overarching goal and our rationale for being there is to dismantle, ultimately defeat al-Qaeda... to make sure that terrorists do not, in fact, bring down the Pakistani government, which is a nuclear power," Biden said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" on Suinday.

The remarks come days after US President Barack Obama blamed Pakistan for not doing enough to fight terrorism in its troubled northwestern tribal belt along the Afghan border.

This is while the US planes and helicopters have increasingly violated Pakistan's airspace several times over the past months.

The unauthorized US drone attacks have drawn strong criticism from the Pakistani people and officials.

In the latest developments, several non-UN-sanctioned US drone attacks have killed at least 60 people in the Khyber Agency tribal region in the past week.

The US led the invasion of neighboring Afghanistan with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the region. Nine years on, however, the region remains unstable and militancy has expanded towards Pakistan.

Analysts say the US is looking for an excuse to expand its military operations in the troubled South Asian region to secure bases near Russia and China.

This is while senior officials in Islamabad have repeatedly said that the country's nuclear weapons are in safe hands.

Meanwhile, visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in a speech to Pakistani parliament countered US criticism and urged the international community to "endorse and support" Islamabad in its fight against militancy.

"Pakistan has given great sacrifices and made great efforts in the fight against terrorism. It is a reality...and the international community should respect Pakistan's efforts," Jiabao said.