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/ 23 December 2007
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday some religious schools were turning children into killers. Speaking to about 25 000 supporters near her ancestral home in the southern town of Larkana, she also renewed accusations the government had done nothing to stop militant violence.
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/ 20 December 2007
A suicide bomber killed at least 42 people in a mosque in north-west Pakistan on Friday where a former interior minister was offering Muslim Eid festival prayers with worshippers, the government said. The former minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, survived unhurt but at least 80 people were wounded in the blast.
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/ 18 December 2007
A Pakistani express train packed with holiday travellers derailed on Wednesday killing 58 people and injuring more than 120, officials said. The Karachi Express night train was on its way from the southern city to Lahore when most of its carriages came off the rails and rammed into each other.
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/ 17 December 2007
A suicide bomber killed 10 Pakistani military recruits in the north-western town of Kohat on Monday, the military said, the first major attack since emergency rule was lifted two days ago. The bombing was near an army-run school where Islamist militants in recent months have made repeated attacks.
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/ 10 December 2007
Up to 6 000 British, American and Afghan forces fighting Taliban militants holding the strategically important Afghan town of Musa Qala were on Sunday preparing for a final assault in the days to come. ”The operation goes on,” said Lieutenant Colonel Tim Eaton, speaking from Lashkar Gah.
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/ 9 December 2007
A suicide bomber killed three people, including a policeman, in an attack on a police checkpost in the volatile Swat valley in north-west Pakistan on Sunday, the military said. The attack came a day after the military said it had cleared the Swat valley, a former top tourist destination, of most militants.
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/ 8 December 2007
Three supporters of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto were killed on Saturday when gunmen attacked her party’s office in a town in south-western Pakistan, police said, in the first reported deaths in the current election campaign. Police had no immediate information about the motive for the attack.
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/ 7 December 2007
Pakistan’s two main opposition leaders have failed to overcome key differences preventing them forging a united front ahead of general elections in January, party officials said on Friday. Former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif will now have to meet again next week to try to hammer out an agreement, their parties said.
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/ 3 December 2007
Pakistani authorities on Monday banned former premier Nawaz Sharif from standing in next month’s general election, further damaging the credibility of a vote that the opposition may yet boycott. The ruling came as Sharif prepared to hold crunch talks with fellow opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
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/ 29 November 2007
President Pervez Musharraf promised on Thursday to lift Pakistan’s state of emergency on December 16, making a long-awaited gesture of reconciliation hours after being sworn in as a civilian leader. Addressing the nation on television, Musharraf said he would also restore the Constitution, which was suspended when he declared emergency rule on November 3.
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/ 29 November 2007
Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf was sworn in as president for a second term on Thursday, but this time as a civilian and without his army uniform to protect him from pressure to end emergency rule. Musharraf took the oath for another five years in office from the newly installed chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.
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/ 28 November 2007
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf stepped down as army chief on Wednesday and will be sworn in as a civilian leader for a second five-year term on Thursday. Musharraf passed the baton of command to his hand-picked successor, General Ashfaq Kayani, at a ceremony at army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
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/ 27 November 2007
Pakistan’s General Pervez Musharraf said farewell to military colleagues on Tuesday as he prepared to become a civilian president ahead of January’s general election. Musharraf visited Joint Staff headquarters in Rawalpindi a day before he steps down as army chief to fulfil one of the long-held demands of his political rivals and Western allies.
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/ 26 November 2007
Pakistan’s ex-premier Nawaz Sharif plotted tactics with key aides on Monday as he sought to capitalise on his hero’s welcome home from exile to spur opposition to President Pervez Musharraf. Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a coup in 1999, was due to file his nomination papers for general elections, despite warning his party may end up boycotting the January 8 vote.
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/ 24 November 2007
Twin suicide blasts killed at least 15 people on Saturday in the Pakistani garrison town of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad, the military said, including 13 aboard a Defence Ministry bus. A suicide bomber rammed a car into the back of the bus outside an intelligence-service office.
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/ 22 November 2007
Pakistan’s Supreme Court, stacked with judges friendly to President Pervez Musharraf, on Thursday threw out a final challenge to his re-election and paved the way for him to quit as army chief. The long-awaited ruling comes as Musharraf faces the prospect of Pakistan’s second suspension from the Commonwealth.
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/ 21 November 2007
Pakistani authorities on Wednesday freed hunger-striking cricket legend Imran Khan from prison, where he has been detained for the last week under anti-terrorism laws, jail officials said. "We have released Imran Khan on the instructions of the provincial government," Sheikh Inamur Rehman, superintendent of Dera Ghazi Khan prison in central Punjab province, said.
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/ 21 November 2007
More than 40 people have been killed in two days of fighting in a north-west Pakistani valley as troops seek to wipe out militants trying to enforce Taliban-style rule, the military and witnesses said on Wednesday. Major Amjad Iqbal, an army spokesperson, said 17 militants were killed in Swat valley’s Shangla district in gun battles overnight.
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/ 20 November 2007
Pakistan has freed 3 400 people detained under a state of emergency imposed by President Pervez Musharraf and will soon release the remaining 2 000, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. That would leave ”very few” detainees facing criminal charges, a ministry spokesperson said.
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/ 19 November 2007
Detained Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan went on hunger strike on Monday to protest against President Pervez Musharraf’s dismissal of judges after he imposed emergency rule, a spokesperson said. Khan planned to continue fasting until all judges sacked after the emergency was imposed on November 3 were reinstated, said his spokesperson.
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/ 18 November 2007
Fighting between rival Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims in north-western Pakistan’s troubled tribal belt has claimed 70 lives, security officials and state media reported Sunday. State television said another 150 people were injured as heavily armed tribesmen clashed in the Kurram district bordering Afghanistan.
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/ 17 November 2007
United States envoy John Negroponte spoke to Pakistan’s opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Friday and said moderate forces should work together to put the country back on a democratic path.
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/ 16 November 2007
Pakistan freed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from house arrest early on Friday, hours after a caretaker prime minister was appointed in a first step towards a national election. Jail officials left the residence in the eastern city of Lahore where Bhutto has been held to prevent her from leading a pro-democracy rally.
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/ 15 November 2007
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is expected to appoint a caretaker government on Thursday to oversee elections he has promised for January but which the opposition say will be a sham under emergency rule. ”We don’t expect fair and free elections under General Musharraf and his mini martial law,” said Farhatullah Babar, an opposition spokesperson.
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/ 14 November 2007
Pakistani opposition parties tried to forge a united front on Wednesday against military President Pervez Musharraf who insisted a state of emergency was necessary for fair elections. United States ally Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, declared emergency rule in nuclear-armed Pakistan on November 3.
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/ 14 November 2007
Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is trying to forge an alliance with Islamists and other opposition parties to launch a campaign to force military president Pervez Musharraf from power. Musharraf plunged the nuclear-armed country into crisis on November 3 when he declared emergency rule.
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/ 13 November 2007
Detained Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto called on Tuesday for military leader Pervez Musharraf to step down as president, isolating him in the run-up to a general election. Britain stepped up pressure on Musharraf, who imposed emergency rule on November 3, backing a 10-day Commonwealth ultimatum for him to end the emergency.
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/ 13 November 2007
Pakistani police put opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest for a week on Tuesday to thwart a protest procession as President Pervez Musharraf came under growing international pressure to end emergency rule. Military ruler Musharraf set off a storm of criticism when he imposed emergency rule on November 3.
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/ 12 November 2007
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto will not be allowed to hold a protest procession across Pakistan because it would violate a ban on political rallies imposed under the current state of emergency, a government spokesperson said on Monday. Bhutto was due to leave the eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday morning for the capital, Islamabad.
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/ 11 November 2007
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday a general election will be held by January 9 — but under a state of emergency he imposed eight days ago. Musharraf, under pressure to put Pakistan back on a path to democracy, said the National Assembly and provincial assemblies will be dissolved in coming days.
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/ 10 November 2007
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto described Pakistan on Saturday as a pressure cooker about to explode, as President Pervez Musharraf’s government tightened screws on media by ordering out three British journalists. Having invoked emergency powers a week ago, Musharraf has sacked most of the country’s judges and ordered police to round up most of the opposition leadership.
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/ 9 November 2007
A suicide bomber blew himself up at the house of a Pakistani minister in the north-western city of Peshawar on Friday, killing four people, police said. Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam, who is also the local head of President Pervez Musharraf’s ruling party, told state television that he was unharmed in the blast.