Islamabad: Nawaz Sharif's emphatic victory at the hustings in Pakistan will provide him sufficient room to shape his party's own agenda, the global rating agency Moody's said but warned the new government will inherit the effects of overall policy inertia. The rating agency also said any flare up in relations with India could impact Pakistan's credit fundamentals. "(Nawaz Sharif's) PML-N's near majority should provide it with sufficient political room to...
01:52 PM, May 14, 2013
Beijing: Pakistan may improve its ties with India and fine tune its anti-terror strategy under the new government headed by PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, Chinese analysts have said. Under Sharif, the relationship between Pakistan and India might also improve, Wang Dehua, head of the South and Central Asian Studies Institute at the Shanghai Institute for International Strategic Studies told state-run Global Times said. "In 1999, Sharif managed to invite then...
12:44 PM, May 14, 2013
Islamabad: Nawaz Sharif's PML-N has emerged the single largest party in Pakistan's landmark general elections by bagging 122 of the 272 parliamentary seats that went to the polls on May 11, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday. The PML-N's two closest rivals the Pakistan People's Party and Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf lagged far behind with 31 and 26 seats, respectively. Earlier, trends emerging from the counting of votes had shown...
12:36 PM, May 14, 2013
Washington: Nawaz Sharif's decision to invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a "positive sign", the United States has said and expressed its willingness to work with the new government in Pakistan. "We have seen those comments. I don't want to analyze it too much, but to say that it is a positive step and we look forward to working with the new government as it's formed," State Department spokesperson Jen...
11:00 AM, May 14, 2013
London: British Prime Minister David Cameron has telephoned Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif to congratulate him on his party's success in general elections. Cameron, who took time out of an official US tour to telephone Sharif, agreed to work with him to strengthen bilateral relationship. "The Prime Minister spoke to Nawaz Sharif earlier today to congratulate him on his party's success in the recent Pakistani elections. They agreed...
09:36 AM, May 14, 2013
Washington: Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Sherry Rehman, has resigned from her post. Congratulating the new parliament on its election, Ambassador Rehman has sent in her resignation to the Prime Minister, saying that it is time a new envoy come in as quickly as possible so that there is no gap in the relationship, an Embassy spokesman said. A political appointee of the previous government and a close aide of...
09:30 AM, May 14, 2013
Washington: Even as there is a sense of positivity over Indo-Pak ties after the outcome of Pakistan polls, a former Pakistani diplomat believes a regime change is unlikely to bring any substantial shift in Islamabad's approach. Former Pakistan Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani noted this while giving an analysis of the post-election scenario in Pakistan. "We will have a kind of a hug-hug, embrace-embrace, but no substantial changed attitude...
09:21 AM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: Government sources on Tuesday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not be attending the swearing-in ceremony of Pakistan's Prime Minister elect Nawaz Sharif. India is likely to formally decline Sharif's invitation to Manmohan. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO), however, has said that no formal invite has been received yet for Sharif's swearing-in ceremony. Sources, however, added that that Sharif may consider India's invitation a visit to soon. Speaking...
09:21 AM, May 14, 2013
Mumbai: A month after Indian Coastguard intercepted a suspicious small ship called MSV Yusufi off the Mumbai coast, what initially seemed to be a case of smuggling, is turning into a major puzzle for the investigating agencies. MSV Yusufi triggered panic last month, when intelligence agencies intercepted suspicious chatter of its crew through banned satellite phones. They were told by their Dubai handler to land at the Colaba coast in...
08:41 AM, May 14, 2013
Islamabad: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, who is set to be Pakistan's Prime Minister for a record third time, says that India and Pakistan should jointly address their fears. Meanwhile, Sharif on Monday invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his swearing-in ceremony. However, sources said that India is likely to formally decline Sharif's invitation to Manmohan. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has said that no formal invite has been received...
08:13 AM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: After incursions in Ladakh, China has now flexed its muscles in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Navy has expressed concern about increasing presence of Chinese navy's submarines and warships in the region. Defence Minister AK Antony will open the bi-annual Naval Commanders Conference in Delhi on Tuesday. The minister, fresh from flagging off the Navy's first MiG-29K squadron in Goa, is expected to highlight concerns over the increasing...
07:40 AM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Nawaz Sharif to India, Bharatiya Janata Party questioned why government was in a hurry to invite the Pakistani leader who is set to lead the country for the third time. "The prime minister has been in too much of a haste to invite Mr Nawaz Sharif. In fact, we should have waited to see what changes come about in Pakistan's...
05:47 AM, May 14, 2013
Washington: Nawaz Sharif's decision to invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a "positive sign", the United States said on Monday, with an official confirming that Secretary of State John Kerry called the new elected leader of Pakistan to congratulate him on his electoral success. "We have seen those comments. I don't want to analyze it too much, but to say that it is a positive step and we look forward...
01:30 AM, May 14, 2013
Karachi: An elections observer group in Pakistan has confirmed reports of rigging at some polling stations in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi. The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has provided statistics supporting reports of rigging at several Karachi polling stations where voter turnout was abnormally high. Since the elections were held on Saturday, the media and many political parties, including Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and Jamaat-e-Islaami, have alleged rigging...
12:49 AM, May 14, 2013
Islamabad: A day after his resounding defeat in Pakistan's general election, former premier Raja Pervez Ashraf was on Monday barred from leaving the country over allegations of corruption in setting up power projects. The Federal Investigation Agency directed authorities in airports to prevent Ashraf and several others accused of wrongdoing in the rental power projects scam from leaving Pakistan. Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau Pakistan's main anti-corruption agency had decided...
12:16 AM, May 14, 2013
Lahore: Former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday resigned from the post of vice-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, accepting responsibility for its resounding defeat in the general election. "I am tendering the resignation on the basis of the election results," Gilani told a news conference in his hometown of Multan. "The PPP did not want to contest the May 11 elections but President Asif Ali Zardari did not let...
11:13 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: Pakistan Tehree-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's first message from a hospital bed since the elections concluded in Pakistan complained of vote rigging. "There were irregularities and we are going to produce a white paper on how the elections were rigged in different ways through the administration," he said, a bandage on his head clearly visible after he suffered severe injuries following a fall from a forklift at a...
09:27 PM, May 13, 2013
The people of Pakistan have reposed their faith in Nawaz Sharif and his PML(N) party. As Pakistan faces an uphill battle against Taliban terror, a large number of radicalised and unemployed youth in a stuttering economy, is he the man for the job? What will be his equation with the Pakistan army which has forced him off power in the past. What will it mean for the future of Indo-pakistani...
07:25 PM, May 13, 2013
Nawaz Sharif is very much seen as an insider of the anti-India Punjabi establishment of Pakistani politics. So will it be easier for him to steer Pakistan to path of friendship with India? Which issues are likely to be resolved more easily and which ones are likely to be stumbling blocks for both sides? Former diplomat KC Singh joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue. Q. How will...
06:39 PM, May 13, 2013
Karachi: Buoyed by an emphatic win by Nawaz Sharif, Pakistani stock market on Monday surged to a record high after crossing 20,000-level for the first time in history and added nearly Rs 10,000 crore to the investors' wealth. The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark index KSE-100 rose to its all-time high of 20,309.36 points on Monday morning with a gain of 1.8 per cent of 359 points, as the General Elections...
05:35 PM, May 13, 2013
