Tag: Ties

NEW DELHI - Pakistan and India have agreed to resume direct sporting ties, including cricket games, which were frozen after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, reports said Thursday.
The decision comes two weeks after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh watched together as their respective teams played in the semi-final of the Cricket World Cup in northwest India.
Several Indian newspapers cited unidentified government sources as saying

ANKARA/ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari told Turkish daily Today's Zaman on Tuesday that Pakistan had a clear strategy on how to tackle terrorism and that dialogue was the only way to normalise relations with India, as Prime Minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani showered praise on his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, calling him a sensible person "who really wants Pakistan and India to resolve their contentious issues" and stated that two countries could not afford

ISLAMABAD - As Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General Ahmad Shuja Pasha left for the United States on Monday to discuss conflicting issues causing a rise in tensions between Islamabad and Washington, US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter here asked for the "renewal" of bilateral ties and said progress in Pakistan was vital for his country. Pasha is travelling to Washington on invitation from Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief Leon Panetta, as the US wants to restart

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday said the semi-final match played between Pakistan and India had proved a catalyst for improving relations between the two countries. The prime minister said this during a reception hosted by him in honour of the national cricket team at the PM House. Apart from the national cricket team, the ceremony was attended by Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt, coach Waqar Younis and assistant coach Aqib Javed. Prime Minister Gilani

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai blamed the international community on Monday for playing a part in a huge corruption scandal at the country's biggest lender, and called for a traditional "jirga" summit to review strategic ties with the United States.
The gathering of hundreds of community leaders should be held in around two or three months, he said, adding that Afghanistan would not be dominated by the bigger power.
"The first condition of this strategic partnership

LAHORE - The chief of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) - Nasrullah Mansoor Langrial - tied knot on Sunday at Jalalpur Jattan, District Gujrat. The 47-year old-guerilla commander was released on February 8 from an Indian jail after 18 years of imprisonment.
He was arrested in 1993 following a tip-off by the Indian Army in the Held Kashmir. He spent time in different prisons including Tihar Jail, Delhi. He was also kept at Balwal Jail in Jammu. While in jail along with Maulana

ISLAMABAD - Joint U.S.-Pakistan intelligence operations have been halted since late January, a senior Pakistani intelligence officer said, reflecting strain in a relationship seen as crucial to combating militants and the war in Afghanistan.
Uneasy U.S.-Pakistani ties have become even more tense after a string of diplomatic disputes so far this year, including a massive drone strike in March and the case of Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis on Jan. 27

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday spelt out serious concerns over the current state of the relationship between the two major allies in the US-led anti-terrorism campaign with the presence of a large network of CIA operatives on Pakistani soil at the top of complaints' list.
Pakistani authorities also warned that a delay in action on the part of Washington to address Islamabad's concerns could jeopardise the cooperation between the two countries in the fight against terrorism. The

ISLAMABAD - British Prime Minister David Cameron said that he wants to deepen and enhance the "unbreakable partnership" between Pakistan and Britain.
The British prime minister arrived in Islamabad Tuesday morning on his first visit to Pakistan since taking office last May.
Cameron held formal talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
"The unbreakable partnership must not just be between our two governments. It must be between our peoples too," Cameron

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani Monday said the government to government and the people to people level ties between Pakistan and Japan would greatly help building a partnership between two countries in various areas. He said this while talking to the outgoing Japanese Ambassador Chihiro Atsumi.
Gilani said that high level visits and exchange of parliamentary delegations may help in strengthening the people to people relationship. Referring to the potential of trade

KOZHIKODE - India believes improvement in relations with neighboring countries, including China and Pakistan, could be brought about by solving disputes through talks, Indian Defence Minister AK Antony said here Sunday.
According to the Press Trust of India news agency, the Indian minister said, "Our ambition is to improve relations with neighboring countries, including China and Pakistan. Any disputes can be sorted out through mutual discussions."
At a 'meet the leader'

KARACHI - Pasban Karachi President Usman Moazzam's nephew was abducted from near his house in Gulshan-e-Hadeed on Saturday. Moazzam said that Aazib Imtiaz Qudwai was kidnapped because he has close ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Aazib's father Nafees Qudwai said, "My son and I were on our way to the mosque to offer the Fajr prayer when an Indus Corolla without a number plate collided with him. Three men carrying weapons got out of the car, forced him into the vehicle and drove

LAHORE - PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt has said that the revival of cricketing ties with India during the World Cup will hopefully result in India's visit to Pakistan or a neutral venue. Talking to journalists at Wagah border on his return from Mohali, the PCB chief said that after talks with the Indian Prime Minister, he was hopeful that bilateral ties would resume shortly. "In fact it is India's turn to visit Pakistan as they scrapped cricketing ties earlier, and we would host them either

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described relations between the United States and Pakistan on Sunday as "very challenging", a tacit admission of strained ties between the key allies.
Speaking after Pakistan boycotted a trilateral meeting on Afghanistan in Brussels in protest against a drone attack that killed 39 people, Clinton said Islamabad was caught between wanting to help and dealing with its own extremist threat. "It's a very challenging relationship,

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have legendary bilateral, historic and closest relations and the Saudis are involved in many aspects of Pakistani life.
These views were expressed by Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik during a meeting with his Royal Highness Prince Bander Bin Sultan, Secretary-General National Security Council (NSC) Saudi Arabia, in the federal capital on Sunday. During the meeting, they discussed matters of mutual interest in detail.

ISLAMABAD - After Thursday's drone attack in North Waziristan in which more than 40 tribal elders and citizens were killed, the Pakistan Army is seriously mulling revising the extent of its strategic cooperation with the United States.
Sources told Online that Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani was furious over Thursday's attack, adding that he left a meeting of the Army Promotion Board and after taking all corps commanders into confidence, decided to give a strong reaction

BISHKEK - Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said Pakistan desires multi-faceted and vibrant ties with Kyrgyzstan for the progress and prosperity of two countries. In a meeting with Kyrgyz President Roza Otenbayeva at her presidential office - White House, the two leaders discussed a whole gamut of issues including bilateral trade, energy and infrastructure and Afghanistan situation, regional and global issues.
PM Gilani outlined Pakistan's desire to improve