Tag: Democracy

United States Senator John Kerry, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, condemned the murder of Asia Times Online Pakistan Bureau Chief...

A senior Pakistani official has said that a deal had been struck under former president Pervez Musharraf and renewed by the army during the...

PML-Q's induction in the government is a success of democracy, said the Sindh Minister for Information, Sharjeel Inam Memon, on Monday. Talking to various delegations...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said the democratic process had been put on rails by the virtue of the reconciliation policy of the PPP government. "This policy has introduced a new culture of accommodation and consultation with all the political parties for deciding issues of national importance," the prime minister while talking to Raheela Baloch, Fauzia Wahab, and Ghous Bukhsh Mehr at the Prime Minister's House, an official statement said. He said the

ISLAMABAD - Military interventions in political process not only weakens democratic institutions in Pakistan but also adversely impacts constitutional and legal developments in the country, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Saturday.
"The primacy of unelected institutions over representative organs left parliament weak and subservient to the executive," he said while addressing the visiting officers of Command and Staff College in Quetta.

KARACHI - The PPP government is determined to maintain a stable democracy, rule of law, social development and peace in the country at all costs through political reconciliation and consultation with all stakeholders, Provincial Information and Archives Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said on Friday.
"President and PPPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari believes in the policy of reconciliation and all efforts are being made to take all political parties on board to remove differences and

LONDON - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called on MQM chief Altaf Hussain on Saturday and discuses national issues while reiterating support to strengthen democracy. The prime minister, who is in London on a private visit in connection with the treatment of his son Haider Gilani, visited the North London residence of the MQM leader.
During the meeting, which was also attended by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Gilani said he

ISLAMABAD - In its reaction to 2010 Human Rights and Democracy report by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Pakistan on Friday regretted that the report omitted the positive aspects when it talked about the state of democracy and democratic institutions in the country. Responding to a question regarding the report, the Foreign Office spokesperson, Tehmina Janjua said, "Pakistan is today a free, transparent and democratic society where all issues including social and

LAHORE - The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) will not let anyone derail democracy in the country, Punjab Governor Latif Khosa said on Thursday. He was addressing the cheque distribution ceremony of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) at the Governor's House. The governor said that the PPP will not tolerate exploitation of the masses and defend people's rights at all costs. Khosa reiterated the federal government's resolve to strengthen democracy for the sake of the country's

CAIRO - Egyptians turned out in droves on Saturday to get their first taste of democracy after president Hosni Mubarak was forced to relinquish his 30-year grip on power last month in the face of mass protests. Long queues formed outside voting centres throughout the first half of the day, something unheard of in the Mubarak era, when turnout was always miniscule as voters assumed their ballots would make no difference. Hordes of voters flocked to polling stations across Cairo from

MANAMA - Bahrain on Friday demolished a monument at the capital's Pearl Square which had come to symbolise the kingdom's pro-democracy movement, as thousands of Bahrainis buried an activist killed in a crackdown on mainly Shia protesters that has angered Iran and raised tension in the world's largest oil-exporting region.
Mourners carrying pictures of activist Ahmed Farhan, killed on Wednesday, followed a car carrying his flag-covered coffin. No security forces were present, but

KARACHI - The Sindh Assembly on Friday passed a unanimous resolution, expressing displeasure at National Assembly opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar, who had filed a petition against Justice (retd) Deedar Hussain Shah's appointment as the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The resolution stated that Nisar's double standards and biased attitude could harm provincial harmony and pose a threat to democracy. The house appreciated the role of Shah, who had served as

CAIRO - Egypt's new Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Friday vowed to respond to demands for democratic change as he addressed thousands of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square a day after his appointment.
"I am here because I get my legitimacy from you... I will exert all my effort to respond to your demands," Sharaf told the flag-waving supporters in the square, the centre of protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak last month.
The premier was named by the country's new

KARACHI - Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS) President Abid Hasnain on Thursday wrote a letter to Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan - also the KU Chancellor - apprising him about legal irregularities in the university's system as the KU Syndicate has been working without any representation from the varsity senate and that memberships of six syndicate members have expired. The teachers of University of Karachi (KU) have pit themselves against the administration and warned of

CAIRO - Egyptian military has set a vote on constitutional change provisionally for March 19 as a prelude to a parliamentary election in June followed by a presidential poll to usher in full democracy, army sources said on Tuesday.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, running the Arab world's most populous nation since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak on February 11, is sticking to a short timetable to open a new chapter in modern Egyptian history.
"The timeframe the

LAHORE - Nawa-e-Waqt founder and Pakistan Movement worker Hameed Nizami always struggled for democracy and was a symbol of hard work and honesty, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Sunday.
He was addressing a seminar held in Hameed Nizami's memory at the Alhamra Arts Council. Former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, former Sindh chief minister Ghous Ali Shah, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashood, MPA Rana Arshad and journalists including Ataul Haq Qasmi,

CAIRO - Egypt's new military leadership on Saturday vowed to pave the way for democracy and abide by international treaties as the hopeful country celebrated victory on the day after Hosni Mubarak's overthrow. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said the current government would remain in place for a peaceful transition to "an elected civil authority to build a free democratic state," though it set no official timetable.
The streets and squares of downtown Cairo were in the