Once Pakistan’s most powerful man, Pervez Musharraf has been indicted for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s murder.
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/ 20 January 2012
The increasingly strained relations between the army and civilian leadership could lead to a coup.
Pakistani authorities deliberately failed to properly investigate the 2007 murder of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, a UN-appointed independent panel said.
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/ 19 December 2008
Pakistan will issue a new 10-rupee coin in honour of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto to coincide with the first anniversary of her death.
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/ 16 September 2008
With the army poised for a coup and the Taliban winning hearts, Zardari doesn’t stand a chance.
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/ 5 September 2008
To some, Asif Ali Khan Zardari is a corrupt, bullying chancer who was a political liability for his late wife, Benazir Bhutto.
Pakistani Taliban militants murdered 22 rivals captured this week when they seized a north-western town, a government official said.
Top Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministry officials met on Tuesday to review their four-year-old peace process that has stalled since domestic political turmoil erupted in Pakistan last year. It is the first contact India has had with leaders of a new Pakistani civilian government.
A fading photo tossed on an empty bed is all that remains of the interrupted lives in Spinkai, a desolate Pakistani village that has endured the wrath of the army’s ”collective punishment”. In the image, a laughing young man in a jet-black turban brandishes his rifle like a trophy. Beside him stand two little girls in bright frocks, giggling with glee.
Pakistan’s political turmoil and violence have claimed a high-profile cultural victim — a centuries-old kite-flying festival that draws thousands of visitors. The Basant festival brings a springtime buzz to eastern Pakistan and its regional capital, Lahore, and officials usually relax a ban on the pastime.
Pakistan’s new prime minister was sworn in by President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday as two senior United States envoys arrived for talks aimed at shoring up Islamabad’s role in the ”war on terror”.
Pakistan’s new prime minister triggered an immediate showdown with Pervez Musharraf on Monday, ordering the release of judges detained by the president just moments after being elected. Musharraf had ordered the judges held in November amid fears they might challenge his grip on power in the nuclear-armed nation.
Pakistan’s Parliament prepared on Monday to elect a new prime minister as the coalition government appeared set for a confrontation with key United States ally President Pervez Musharraf. Yousuf Raza Gilani, the candidate nominated by the party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, is a virtual certainty to win.
Two suicide attacks killed at least 31 people and injured more than 200 in Lahore on Tuesday as suspected Islamist militants escalated their campaign of mayhem in Pakistan’s largest cities. The bombs were the latest in a string of attacks against military and police targets in Lahore, the previously peaceful capital of Punjab province.
Pakistan’s two major opposition leaders signed a formal declaration Sunday on forming a coalition government, and urged President Pervez Musharraf to convene Parliament without delay. Asif Ali Zardari, widowed husband of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif signed the agreement at a news conference after a fresh round of coalition talks.
Pakistani tribesmen on Monday buried the last of the 43 people killed in a suicide bomb attack at a meeting of tribal elders discussing how to tackle al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
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/ 20 February 2008
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf rejected demands to quit on Wednesday and called for a ”harmonious coalition” as victorious opposition parties mulled a grouping that could force the key United States ally from power. Musharraf was making his first official comments since Monday’s crucial parliamentary vote.
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/ 20 February 2008
The party of assassinated former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto began stitching together a coalition on Wednesday that could spell the end for President Pervez Musharraf, after winning the most seats in a general election. The United States welcomed the vote as ”a step toward the full restoration of democracy”.
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/ 19 February 2008
President Pervez Musharraf’s leading lieutenants appeared to have lost their seats in early results in Monday’s Pakistani election, dealing a blow to the retired general’s hopes of clinging to power. Early winners included the Pakistan Muslim League (N) of the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who was polling strongly in Punjab.
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/ 18 February 2008
Vote counting got under way on Monday after a lacklustre turnout in Pakistan’s parliamentary elections, which passed off relatively peacefully despite fears of sabotage by Islamic militants. With his future hanging in the balance, President Pervez Musharraf resolved to work with the new civilian government.
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/ 18 February 2008
Fears of violence kept many Pakistanis away from the polls on Monday with 80 000 troops backing up police to watch over a vote that could choose a Parliament set on driving President Pervez Musharraf from office. Results are expected to start emerging by midnight and trends should be clear on Tuesday morning.
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/ 18 February 2008
Fears of violence overshadowed Pakistan’s general election on Monday with 80Â 000 troops backing up police to watch over a vote that could return a Parliament set on driving President Pervez Musharraf from office. Musharraf has lost much popularity over the past year because of his manoeuvres to hold on to power which included a clash with the judiciary.
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/ 17 February 2008
Leaders of Pakistan’s opposition parties have been making frantic last-minute efforts to convince fearful voters to turn out in crucial parliamentary elections on Monday that may plunge the 164 million-strong nation into chaos. As the last day of official campaigning in the most troubled contest for decades drew to a close on Saturday, no one was confident of a victory.
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/ 16 February 2008
Pakistani politicians were winding up campaigns on Saturday for a general election that is meant to complete a transition to civilian rule but has been overshadowed by fear of violence and accusations of rigging. The elections on Monday are for a new Parliament and provincial assemblies and while President Pervez Musharraf is not taking part, the vote could spell trouble for the important United States ally.
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/ 16 February 2008
A suicide car bomb outside a Pakistani election candidate’s office killed 37 people in the violent north-west on Saturday, the last day of campaigning for an election meant to complete a transition to civilian rule. Separately, police in the south of the country said they had foiled another attack planned for polling day on Monday.
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/ 9 February 2008
To chants of ”Democracy is the best revenge”, tens of thousands of Benazir Bhutto’s followers rallied in southern Pakistan on Saturday as her party relaunched an election campaign derailed by her assassination. About 2Â 000 police and hundreds of private armed security guards from Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party secured the venue.
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/ 8 February 2008
British police have concluded that Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed by the force of a suicide bomb and not by an assassin’s bullet, he New York Times reported in its Friday editions. The findings, if confirmed, would support the Pakistani government’s explanation of Bhutto’s death.
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/ 7 February 2008
Pakistani police have arrested two more suspects in connection with the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the interior minister said on Thursday. Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack on December 27 as she was coming out of an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi.
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/ 7 February 2008
Tens of thousands of people beat their chests in anguish at Benazir Bhutto’s tomb on Thursday as they marked the end of 40 days of mourning for the slain opposition leader. The solemn Muslim ceremonies at the family mausoleum in southern Pakistan marked the start of campaigning by her Pakistan People’s Party for elections on February 18.
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/ 6 February 2008
Pakistani Taliban fighters announced a ceasefire on Wednesday after months of clashes with security forces and suicide attacks across the north-west of the country. But a military spokesperson said that while fighting had died down no truce had been agreed.
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/ 4 February 2008
A suicide bomber attacked a Pakistani military bus taking medical corps staff to work in the city of Rawalpindi on Monday killing at least five people and wounding 25. Violence has intensified in Pakistan in recent months with the army battling militants in the northw-est and suicide bomb attacks in towns and cities.
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/ 3 February 2008
An extraordinary array of contemporary art will go under the hammer next week for Red, the brand created by U2 star and activist Bono, to raise money to combat the Aids epidemic in Africa. The auction, on February 14, is the first of its kind and features mainly new works donated by more than 60 artists.