Tag: Zardari

ISLAMABAD - The government is keen to take the multifaceted Sino-Pak ties to new heights as the friendship between the two countries has matured into a comprehensive strategic partnership, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday.
"Strengthening and enhancing cooperation with China in all fields has been and still is one of the key principles of Pakistan's foreign policy," Zardari said at the delegation-level talks between Pakistan and China led by the president and Chinese

ISLAMABAD: Hilal-e-Pakistan was conferred posthumously on Ambassador Richard Holbrooke for his meritorious services to strengthen Pak-US bilateral relations by President Asif Ali Zardari who also visited the US Embassy to offer his condolences, a press statement said on Wednesday.
Chinese ambassador calls on president: Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Mr Liu Jian, on Wednesday called on President Asif Ali Zardari at Aiwan-e-Sadr for lunch and discussed issues of bilateral

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a petition challenging President Asif Ali Zardari's co-chairmanship of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). LHC Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry is heading the five-member bench hearing the petition. Petitioner AK Dogar presented his final arguments saying that Zardari could not hold a political office while being the president. "Implementing the constitution in letter and spirit can bring a political and

ISLAMABAD - Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira denied reports of differences between President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani over the removal of Hamid Saeed Kazmi and Azam Swati from the federal cabinet, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday.
Talking to journalists, the minister defended the sacking of Hamid Saeed Kazmi and Azam Swati as federal ministers, saying that it was the demand of the judiciary and the media. He quoted the

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday reiterated the PPP-led government's resolve to continue pursuing the socio-economic reforms-agenda to deliver on the promises made to the people and to give an economically stable, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan to the coming generations.
Addressing a meeting with PPP MPAs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) at the presidency, Zardari said despite challenges and hurdles, the government had waded through difficulties successfully and

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday called on President Asif Ali Zardari at the Presidency.
Both leaders discussed the overall political situation in the country and exchanged notes on the party's progress on winning the support of political parties on the reformed general sales tax.
The prime minister also briefed the president about his visit to Turkey.
The president congratulated Gilani on his successful and productive visit to Turkey and his

ISLAMABAD: British Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday to discuss his forthcoming visit to Pakistan, bilateral matters and the general security situation in the region.
The contact was significant, as it was a high-level contact between both leaders amid reports in the British media that President Zardari had snubbed Cameron and asked him to delay his visit.
However, officials rejected such reports, calling them a pack of lies. "As

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday signed the Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Bill, 2010, which would provide a legal cover to thousands of emloyees reinstated by the PPP government who had been sacked in 1997 by the Nawaz Sharif government.
"The critics of present government sometimes accuse it of not providing jobs to the people. Yes, the job market has shrunk due to world wide economic slow down and recession.
But I ask the critics; is the reinstatement of

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari told US diplomats in May 2008 that the fall of Benazir Bhutto's second government was financed by Osama bin Laden.
He also claimed she and her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were assassinated by religious extremists. Zardari, who was then only co-chairman of the PPP, leveled these charges while talking to US Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) on May 26, 2008.
The memo was sent by former US ambassador Anne

ISLAMABAD: A diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks has quoted President Asif Ali Zardari as telling former US Ambassador Anne W Patterson that he would ask his Afghan counterpart to keep the renegade Baloch leader, Barahamdagh Bugti, in Afghanistan.
Zardari's comments clearly breached the country's policy since 2007, as Islamabad had time and again pressed Kabul to hand over Bugti to Pakistan for trial. "Ambassador Patterson had asked Interior Minister Rehman Malik several times

ISLAMABAD: One of the diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks revealed that Pakistan's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Umar Khan Alisherzai thinks that the relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were strained after President Asif Zardari's elections.
The Saudi perception was that Zardari was pro-Iranian and pro-Shia, which made Saudi Arabia apprehensive about working with him. "When asked about the Saudi-Pak relationship, Alisherzai admitted that it had been strained since

ISLAMABAD: WikiLeaks reveals that the Pakistani and Saudi rulers equally suspected and distrusted each other with President Asif Zardari accusing Saudi Arabia of funding religious parties saying that "mosques and madrassas have become a 'cottage industry' in Pakistan" as King Abdullah was quoted as saying that Zardari was "the greatest obstacle in Pakistan's progress".
A diplomatic cable sent by former US ambassador Anne W Patterson to Washington on January 28, 2008, reveals that

ISLAMABAD: WikiLeaks revealed two different approaches in Pakistan suspecting each other over resumption of talks with India with President Asif Ali Zardari believing that it took a lot to change the mindset in the military establishment and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani thinking that the president was an obstacle in the way to start back channel diplomacy.
One cable written by former US ambassador Anne W Patterson after a meeting between US national security Adviser

ISLAMABAD: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) already knew about the United Nation sanctions after the Mumbai attacks through Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who had advised them to withdraw their money from banks, President Asif Ali Zardari had revealed to former US ambassador Anne W Patterson, Wikileaks reports have alleged.
Sharif had "tipped off" the banned outfit LeT to help them evade UN sanctions, Zardari allegedly told Patterson, adding that earlier he had done the same for the

ISLAMABAD: Aware that he might be assassinated, President Asif Ali Zardari had told former US ambassador Anne W Patterson that he had made provision in case he was assassinated saying that his sister, Faryal Talpur, would be named president after him.
Wikileaks memos revealed that Zardari had told the US envoy that he had requested the United Arab Emirates government to take his family in the event of his death. While far from perfect, the diplomatic documents stated that Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks suggest that top world leaders consider President Asif Ali Zaradri has no vision to govern a country. According to a cable, President Asif Zardari was labelled a "numbskull" by former UK chief of defence staff Sir Jock Stirrup.
Stirrup had told this to visiting US officials two years ago. Other British officials echoed the line, with Peter Ricketts, the Foreign Office's permanent undersecretary, characterising the Pakistani leader

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif on Monday issued an interim order restraining President Asif Zardari and Punjab Governor Salman Taseer from possible pardoning of blasphemy convict Aasia, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death.
Issuing notice to the respondents, the court also sought an explanation until December 6 regarding statements and announcements by Taseer and the representatives of the federation intending Aasia's release by