Tag: Issue

LAHORE - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani must take the public in confidence on releasing Raymond Davis, former foreign minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday. Addressing reporters at the Lahore Press Club, Qureshi said that the unrest among masses would soar if the government would not provided complete information to them about the issue.
Stressing on his demand, he said masses were disappointed as they were considering Raymond Davis' release an attack on

KARACHI - The United States has finally resorted to punitive measures against Pakistan after Islamabad's failure to comply with Washington's covert and overt but pressing demand for the release of Raymond Davis, accused of killing two Pakistani youths in Lahore. The revelation came after the US House of Representatives recently nodded to a Republicans-backed resolution calling for the suspension of economic aid to Pakistan as it was not complying with Washington's demand for the

Under the CSF Washington is to provide Islamabad with total $2.5 billion, of which $1.4 billion are to be reimbursed during the current financial year. The State Bank of Pakistan statistics show that during the first half of 2010-11, Pakistan received only $633 million with the economic managers expecting a 'timely' release of the balance of $767 million that, the observers believe, would reflect positively on the cash-stripped country's deteriorating external accounts. In their last

KARACHI - The US will not stop aid to Pakistan because of the Raymond Davis issue, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday. Talking to reporters after attending a Pakistan Navy exercise, the prime minister said there would be no clash between the institutions in the country.
"Pakistan is passing through hard times and is sacrificing a lot for international peace. Terrorism is an international challenge and we need to face it jointly," he said. Earlier addressing the

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday said it was working with the US to ensure that the diplomatic row with Washington over suspected CIA contractor Raymond Davis, arrested in January for killing two Pakistanis in Lahore, did not impact bilateral relations.
In response to a volley of questions on the Davis' issue at her weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said, "The matter of Davis is sub-judice and it will be a little early for me to say anything in

RAWALPINDI - Punjab Governor Latif Khosa has said that the federation and Punjab did not have any difference of opinion in the Raymond Davis case. Talking to reporters during his visit to Fatima Jinnah Women University, Khosa said he had good working relationship with the Punjab government. He said that the issuance of arrest warrant of Pervez Musharraf and the Raymond Davis case were sub judice matters and it would be better to wait for court decision.

ISLAMABAD - In his maiden visit to Islamabad, US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman made clear that the release of arrested US citizen Raymond Davis was a must for the continuation of friendly bilateral ties. Grossman, who met President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, raised the issue of Davis in each of his meeting, with a strong demand for his release coupled with words of caution that the

KARACHI Strongly condemning the brutal murder of Federal Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti on Wednesday, the Pakistan Peace Coalition (PPC) has said that the blasphemy laws issue presents an open challenge to the stability of Pakistan.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the PPC observed that Bhatti was killed merely two months after the assassination of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, who too was silenced for his open remarks about the blasphemy laws.
"The blame for

ISLAMABAD - US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, is arriving in the next few days to discuss the Afghanistan situation and the contentious issue of Raymond Davis with the Pakistani leadership. This would be Grossman's first visit to Pakistan after his appointment as the special regional envoy last month. He will also visit Kabul, London, Jeddah and Brussels, according to a US embassy statement issued here on Tuesday.
In his meetings here, Grossman will

ISLAMABAD - The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have warned the government of dire consequences in case Raymond Davis was released without fulfilling legal requirements; however, the two parties differ on a possible out-of-court settlement.
The JI, which fears an 'illegal' out-of-court settlement, has changed its posture on the issue, demanding the government book the US national under the Anti-Terrorism Act in order to make the offence non-compoundable

LAHORE - The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) organised a protest and sit-in at the Qurtaba Chowk on Friday against the federal and Punjab government's inability to handle the case of US national Raymond Davis.
The protesters were carrying placards and chanted anti-US slogans while they also burnt an effigy of Davis. "Rulers are the slaves of the US, we ask the army and ISI to break the net of US spies in the country, as they are thousands in numbers. President Zardari never dared to utter

KARACHI - The PPP hinted on Wednesday that it might accept the MQM's local government (LG) system formula in Karachi and Hyderabad. "Our allies have interest in two districts - Karachi and Hyderabad - and we cannot afford to lose the remaining 21 districts of Sindh," said PPP leader and Sindh Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani, while talking to journalists after attending the Sindh Assembly session.
He said that both parties have agreed to resume talks on the

GUJRANWALA - Two youths were gunned down and one was injured over a divorce issue at Mohallah Bakhtewala while one of the killers was captured and handed over to Sabzi Mandi Police by the residents.
Reportedly, Muhammad Yasin divorced his wife, a sister of Saeed, one of the accused, last month. The father of Saeed died of heart attack during the arbitration dialogues which were being carried out by both the families to resolve the disputes. It intensified tension between the two

BRUSSELS - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on Tuesday said there was "no linkage" between turmoil in the Arab world and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the EU pressed for quick progress on peace talks to ensure stability.
"The Israel-Palestinian conflict is not the main issue, not the main problem," Lieberman said after talks in Brussels on EU-Israeli ties."The main reason for instability is poverty, misery, inefficient government," he said at a press conference

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday conveyed Islamabad's stated position on the Raymond Davis issue to a visiting US congressional delegation and stressed that the strategic relationship between both countries should not be made hostage to the Raymond case.
The US congressional delegation consisting of Senator Robert Corker, Senator Bernard Sanders, Senator Christopher Coons and Senator Joseph Manchin called on President Asif

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday asked Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to hold meetings with all the stakeholders and resolve the circular debt issue. In a meeting held at the Prime Minister's House and also attended by Petroleum Secretary Imtiaz Qazi and PSO MD Irfan Qureshi, Gilani directed Shaikh to discuss the issue and come up with a solution after holding meetings with the secretaries of Petroleum, Water and Power and Railways at the earliest.