An Indo-Pak bond in science in the making
A team of six senior Indian scientists visited Pakistan last week seeking to establish a connection between the scientific community from either side of the Line of Control to work together on common problems like infectious diseases and crop production.

Scientists visit neighbour to work together on infectious diseases

The quiet tour under the banner of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) took place with the approval of the Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Science and ... Read More

Top-level India-Pakistan military contact mooted
Sensing a strategic shift in the thinking among important stakeholders in both India and Pakistan, an India-Pakistan dialogue this week advocated military contact at the highest level to remove the distrust that has bogged down bilateral relations.

Participants at the two-day dialogue organised by BALUSA— a joint initiative to improve bilateral relations— in collaboration with the Delhi-based Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation noted an attempt in both countries to shift from the animosity and mistrust of ... Read More

*Normalisation of Indo-Pak ties ‘Compelling Necessity,’ Pak PM
DAVOS, Jan 29 (Agencies): Hopeful of normalisation of Indo-Pak ties, Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has described it as a “compelling necessity” and said his Interior Secretary will soon visit India to take forward the talks on outstanding issues between the two countries. During a meeting with Minister of State for Planning, Science and Technology and Earth Science, Ashwani Kumar, here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Gilani expressed hope for normalisation ... Read More

Pak apparent view of US as threat, 'equal to or larger than India' leading country to rush for more bombs!
Islamabad, Jan 30 : Pakistan's apparent opinion about the US of being a threat equal to or larger than India, amid its changing relationship with the latter, has led Islamabad into rushing to make more bombs, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has claimed in a write-up.

Americans are now a threat, equal to or larger than India. They are also considered more of an adversary than even the TT jihadists who have killed thousands of ... Read More

Rushdie's writings painful: Imran Khan
Describing the writings of Salman Rushdie as "painful" for the Muslim community, Pakistani politician and former cricket captain Imran Khan Monday said no one had a right to humiliate someone's belief.

"First of all what is painful for a human community only the human community should decide...the issue is not what Rushdie wrote (in his novel 'The Satanic Verses'). The real issue is that nobody has the right to inflict pain on a society," Khan said ... Read More

Obama's remark on drone strikes angers Pakistan
Islamabad: Hours after President Barack Obama confirmed that US drones regularly target militants in its tribal belt, Pakistan today said such attacks were "unlawful" and a violation of its sovereignty.

"Our position on drone strikes is clear and based on principles. Drone attacks are unlawful, counter-productive and hence unacceptable," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told PTI.

"We cannot condone the violation of our sovereignty," he said.

Obama confirmed for the first time that US drones had targeted ... Read More

Fighting over Pakistani mountaintop kills more than 60
HUSSAIN AFZAL Parachinar

Fighting between soldiers and Taliban militants over a strategic mountaintop in northwestern Pakistan has killed more than 60 people, a government official said Tuesday.

The battle first started a week ago when government troops seized the top of Jogi mountain in the Kurram tribal area from militants, sparking clashes that killed six soldiers and 20 insurgents, said Wajid Khan, a local government administrator.

The militants retaliated Tuesday by attacking the soldiers who were trying to ... Read More

Maestro from India enchants Pakistan music lovers
The honeyed sound of bansuri filled the air, making music lovers at a concert organised on Sunday evening in connection with India’s 63rd Republic Day gently sway to its sweet tunes.

The master was immersed in his art. His avid admirers were listening to him with rapt attention. The evening communicated every thought, light or heavy, through music.

Internationally renowned classical musician and exponent of bansuri Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia gave a delightful performance at a concert held ... Read More

Pakistan's dynamic instability: Road to real democracy?
Pakistan is again going through a crisis. But this time for optimists like me the instability is dynamic. It is dynamic because this kind of struggle between a civilian government and the judiciary can also nudge the country towards a real democracy. In this case the fight is between a principled chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who is trying to establish the supremacy of the judiciary in the country, and a corrupt civilian government that came ... Read More

Pak ranked 151 below Afghanistan in Press Freedom Index, India 131
Peshawar, Jan 26: Pakistan is ranked 151st in a global media organisation's World Press Freedom Index for 2011-12, lagging a rank behind Afghanistan, and India is ranked 131st.

Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) said Pakistan was the world's deadliest country for journalists for the second year in a row, with 10 deaths recorded in 2011.

"This year's index sees many changes in the rankings, changes that reflect a year that was incredibly rich in developments, especially in ... Read More

Christian woman in Pakistan escapes Muslim captor after ten-year ordeal
Pakistan: A young Christian woman in Pakistan who was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married to her Muslim abductor has escaped after more than ten years in captivity.

Nadia Naira was aged 15 when she was seized at gunpoint by a Muslim man on 11 February 2001, from Mariamabad village in the district of Sheikhupura, Punjab province.

She said:

After two days of my kidnapping, [he] without my consent and at gunpoint forcibly converted me into Islam ... Read More

Pakistan Court Widens Role, Stirring Fears for Stability
By DECLAN WALSH

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Once they were heroes, cloaked justices at the vanguard of a powerful revolt against military rule in Pakistan, buoyed by pugnacious lawyers and an adoring public. But now Pakistan’s Supreme Court is waging a campaign of judicial activism that has pitted it against an elected civilian government, in a legal fight that many Pakistanis fear could damage their fragile democracy and open the door to a fresh military intervention.

From ... Read More

Authorities demolish Christian centre in Pakistan, forcing families out
Pakistan, January 16, 2012: Three families who lived at a Christian welfare centre in Pakistan were forced out as the site was illegally taken over and demolished by the authorities.

Gosha-e-Aman (The Corner of Peace) in Lahore was bulldozed on 10 January; the compound’s church, houses and other property, including a cross and Bibles, were destroyed.

The families who lived at the site were ordered out as the machinery was moved in by the Lahore Development Authority ... Read More

Dictators have no chance of returning: Gilani
Islamabad, January 19 (ANI): The Pakistan Supreme Court was adjourned till ...
Islamabad: In an oblique reference to the country's past military rulers, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday said "dictators" who boasted of curbing corruption while they were in power could do nothing and have no chance of returning.

Addressing the convocation ceremony of the Lahore College for Women University, Gilani said: "The only stable position rests with the Almighty", Geo TV reported.

"The opposition ... Read More

Zardari enjoys immunity, can't act against him: Gilani to Pak SC
Islamabad Pakistan's embattled Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today appeared before the Supreme Court to face a contempt notice for not reopening graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari, saying he was unable to act as the President enjoyed complete immunity under the Constitution.
Gilani told a seven-judge Bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk that he could not even think of committing contempt of court as he had complete respect for the judiciary.

Explaining his government's position ... Read More

Zardari lawyer suspended
Islamabad, Jan. 17 (PTI): The Pakistan Supreme Court today suspended the licence of a lawyer close to President Asif Ali Zardari as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani faced the possibility of a case being filed against him for alleged misuse of authority.

The Supreme Court temporarily suspended the lawyer’s licence of Babar Awan, a former law minister and a close Zardari aide who is the government’s lawyer in several cases, for failing to respond to a ... Read More

Pakistan's Supreme Court issues contempt notice to Gilani
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is seen while meeting with U.S....

Islamabad: The Supreme Court on Monday issued contempt notice to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the National Reconciliation Order (NRO) case.

The court directed the prime minister to appear personally before the bench on January 19th, Geo News reported.

A seven-member Supreme Court bench on Monday resumed hearing on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation.

Pakistan's Supreme Court on January 10th expressed its displeasure with the ... Read More

Pakistan warns Musharraf of arrest
Pakistan has issued a warning to Pervez Musharraf, its former military ruler, that he will be arrested if he returns to the country next weekend after three years in self-imposed exile.

Mr Musharraf, who was forced from office in 2008, is wanted in connection with the murder of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, and in two other cases.

He plans to return to fight elections expected later this year, but has struggled with party infighting, a ... Read More

Cross-border diaries boost campus ties
MUMBAI: In its journey from Mumbai to Lahore and then Karachi, it did what should have been long done. But nonetheless, the end was more than a bunch of just thoughtful diary entries, they were definitely more than powerful words strung together.

Beginning September, a diary was passed around on campuses of the large colleges in Mumbai. Another exactly similar diary travelled around institutes 550 miles away in Karachi and then to campuses in Lahore. When ... Read More

Zardari leaves for Dubai amidst crisis in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday departed on a one-day private visit to Dubai amidst a standoff between the civilian government and the powerful military on the memo scandal.

News of Zardari's departure was flashed this afternoon by TV news channels. There was no immediate word on the visit from the presidency.

Sources told PTI that Zardari was expected to attend a wedding in Dubai, where he has a private residence.

Several senior government officials are ... Read More

PM Gilani not an honest man: Pak SC
Islamabad Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is not an honest man as he had not lived up to his Constitutional oath, Pakistan's Supreme Court said on Tuesday, as it warned of action against him for failing to act on an order to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Piling pressure on PPP-led beleaguered government, a five-judge Bench, which had taken up the issue of implementing the apex court's verdict striking down a graft ... Read More

Pakistan Premier Fires Defense Chief
By TOM WRIGHT

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani fired his defense secretary on Wednesday, just hours after the nation's military warned that Mr. Gilani's recent attacks on another official, army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, could have "grievous consequences."

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, right, and Pakistan's army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, left, in June 11.
Mr. Gilani named a career civil servant, cabinet secretary Nargis Sethi, to succeed his military-allied defense chief, retired Lt. ... Read More

How Pakistan came to feel snug in a Chinese pocket
Jayadeva Ranade

China’s expanded influence in Pakistan came into prominence recently amidst the fog of verbiage surrounding the Memogate fiasco. The shorthand used for years to describe Pakistan’s political power triad namely, ‘Allah, Army and America’, now has to include China.

Over the past few years and, especially since the US raid in May 2011 to eliminate Osama bin Laden, China’s proximity to Pakistan has increasingly been on display. Examples include Sino-Pak collaboration to stall the ... Read More

A Pakistani Spring?
By HUMA YUSUF

KARACHI – While I was living in Washington on a research fellowship last year, Pakistanis often urged me to use the opportunity to promote Pakistan’s “positive aspects” to Americans. With the country steeped in ethnic and sectarian violence and regressing along the Human Development Index, this seemed like a challenge, and I’d struggle to muster compelling examples.

No longer. An exciting shift is now under way in Pakistan: the young are becoming politically engaged. ... Read More

Pakistan army warns PM Gilani
Pakistan's military has publicly rebuked Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over an escalating row.

The army warned of "serious ramifications with potentially grievous consequences" after the PM criticised military leaders in a media interview.

Meanwhile, Mr Gilani has sacked his defence secretary, who is seen as having close ties to the military.

Tensions have been rising in recent months between Pakistan's civilian government and military leaders.

The latest row is a serious source of instability in Pakistan, where ... Read More

Musharraf Will Be Arrested on Arrival
PTI

Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as Pakistan’s president in 2008, will be arrested on arrival in the country later this month, the Press Trust of India reported, citing a prosecutor.

Musharraf is a “proclaimed offender” and there’s no need for a warrant for this arrest, PTI reported today, citing Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, prosecutor at the Federal Investigation Agency. Musharraf lives in Dubai and London and plans to return to Pakistan on Jan. 25 or Jan. 27, ... Read More

Pakistan bomb kills 35
The explosion took place in a market in Jamrud, one of the towns of the troubled Khyber tribal region, which also used to serve as the main supply route for NATO forces operating in Afghanistan.

Officials said the dead included two children, aged 9 and 10 years, and three tribal policemen.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing but local residents suggested it was a tribal dispute, as most of the victims were members ... Read More

Pakistan finalises new 'terms of engagement' with US
Islamabad: A Pakistani parliamentary panel has finalised a draft of recommendations for new "terms of engagement" with the US and NATO as part of the Islamabad's efforts to revamp its troubled relations with Washington.

Raza Rabbani, the head of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, said the panel had finalised a draft of its recommendations for the new "terms of engagement" with the US in view of the cross-border NATO air strike and the current ... Read More

US hopeful Pakistan will reopen Nato supply routes
Washington: The United States continues military dialogue with Pakistan despite recent serious setbacks, because the US-Pakistani relationship is very important, Pentagon spokesman George Little has said.

The US has conducted 'a thorough investigation' into the border incident in late November, in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a NATO air strike near the Afghanistan border, and "expressed our deepest regret to the Pakistani people," the spokesman told reporters.

"We have acknowledged and take responsibility for the ... Read More

Can’t detect a bomb, but can still work in airport security
Colin Freeze

The retired bureaucrat was on the job only a month when al-Qaeda’s so-called “Underwear Bomber” struck. “It told me we have to be extra diligent,” he recalls thinking. “If the bad guys are getting better, we have to get better too.”

The failed Christmas Day, 2009, attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner did force thousands of North American airport guards to step up security. But for Mr. Williams, it meant being forced out ... Read More

I want to be there for my kids: Imran Khan
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Imran Khan More PicsImran Khan in an exclusive interview on fatherhood, friends and films...

In all of three years, Imran Khan has already featured in seven films, emerging a favourite with filmmakers and audiences alike. And despite the hiccups (Kidnap and Luck), has shown versatility through his roles - going from college loverboy (Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na) to hassled urban professional in the raciest adult comedy last year ( Delhi Belly). The actor ... Read More

Cricket star’s political party becomes a force in Pakistan
stephanie nolen

Pakistanis rally over NATO air strike This time, however, he has pulled politicians from other parties across the spectrum, including a cabinet minister, to defect to join him, and he drew an estimated 125,000 people to the rally this week in central Karachi. He promised the crowd that when elected, he would “end big corruption within 90 days;” they cheered him and danced beneath party flags for hours.

Mr. Khan has come in for ... Read More

13 killed, 21 injured in Pakistan car bombing
-IANS

Islamabad: At least 13 people were killed and 21 injured on Friday evening in a powerful car bombing in Pakistan's Quetta city, media reports said.

The blast took place on Arbab Karam Khan Road near Raisani Chowk, Geo News reported.

The Balochistan Liberation Army has taken responsibility for the bombing.

While Dawn News put the toll at 13, Geo News said 10 people were killed.

The explosion in the capital city of Balochistan province occurred outside the house ... Read More

Pak MPs meet Krishna, Indian lawmakers to improve bilateral ties
In a bid to improve bilateral relations, a group of Pakistani lawmakers visited India on Thursday and held a meeting with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and their counterparts.

Briefing mediapersons about the meeting, Krishna said that the Pakistani lawmakers expressed similar views of strengthening the bilateral ties.

"We certainly welcome the initiatives taken by well meaning MPs (lawmakers of Pakistan) who have always stood for better relations between Pakistan and India and they just came ... Read More

India, Pakistan to renew N-accidents pact
New Delhi: Senior officials of India and Pakistan Tuesday ended their two-day talks in Islamabad by agreeing to consider renewing for another five years a pact on reducing nuclear accidents and to explore additional confidence-building measures (CBMs). The Indian delegation, led by D.B. Venkatesh Varma, joint secretary (Disarmament) in the external affairs ministry, held the sixth round of expert-level talks with the Pakistani side led by Munawar Saeed Bhatti, additional secretary in the foreign office. ... Read More

Zardari warns of conspiracy amid scandal
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari is urging his countrymen to guard against what he called anti-democratic conspiracies, in apparent reference to the strains between his government and the military.

President Asif Ali Zardari said on Tuesday that doing so would be a fitting tribute to his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, on the fourth anniversary of her assassination by militants.

His government is at odds with the army over a secret memo he allegedly ... Read More

Pakistan searches for democracy through Kolaveri di
PTI

Islamabad: Kolaveri Di, the song that has made India sway to its tunes, is an inspiration for a political satire in Pakistan. The parody Where is democracy, democracy, democracy ji has become a huge hit in the country after a Television channel played it last week.

The lyrics, like the original take pot-shots at the government and the security establishment. The Pakistani version that was uploaded on the YouTube on December 17 comes at a ... Read More

India, Pakistan to discuss conventional, nuke CBMs Monday
New Delhi/Islamabad, Dec 22 (IANS) Seeking to push forward their revived peace process, India and Pakistan will hold two-day talks starting Monday in Islamabad to discuss conventional and nuclear confidence-building measures.

Senior officials of the two countries will focus, among other things, on implementing the cross-Kashmir trade and travel CBMs that were unveiled during the talks between foreign ministers in July.

Issues relating to nuclear security, which have acquired an added resonance following the Fukushima ... Read More