Pakistan will have to fight hard to save the first Test against South Africa after a masterly knock of 155 by Jacques Kallis put the tourists in command at the National Stadium in Karachi on Tuesday. At the close on the second day, Pakistan were 127-5 in reply to South Africa’s first innings total of 450, still needing a further 124 to avoid the follow-on.
Pakistani opposition lawyers made a last-ditch effort on Tuesday to block President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, telling the Supreme Court as army chief he should be ineligible and Saturday’s vote should be postponed. Once re-elected Musharraf has vowed to quit as army chief and become a civilian leader.
Jacques Kallis scored his 25th Test century to guide South Africa to a commanding 294-3 after the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi on Monday. Kallis (118 not out) and Hashim Amla (71) put on 170 for the third wicket to justify captain Graeme Smith’s decision to bat first on a slow pitch.
South Africa got off to a solid start on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan at the National stadium on Monday, going in to lunch at 96-1. On a perfect pitch for spinners, skipper Graeme Smith was the only casualty of the opening session when he was trapped leg before by part timer off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez.
A suicide bomber wearing a burqa set off explosives in the north-western Pakistani town of Bannu on Monday killing up to 15 people, including four policemen, security officials said. The blast was the lastest in a wave of attacks, most in the north-west of the country near the border with Afghanistan.
South African captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against Pakistan on Monday after Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf pulled out at the last minute. The 33-year-old Yousuf last week cancelled his contract with a rebel Indian league and made himself available for Pakistan.
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/ 30 September 2007
South African skipper Graeme Smith believes putting runs on the board early will be key for his side in a test series against Pakistan starting from Monday. Smith and Herschelle Gibbs are set to resume their opening partnership in the first test at the National stadium.
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/ 28 September 2007
South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock has been dropped for the first time in his career and will not play in the first Test against Pakistan which begins on Monday. ”I am surprised and disappointed at not being considered for the first Test,” Pollock told a news conference on Friday.
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/ 27 September 2007
Pakistan military leader President Pervez Musharraf filed nomination papers on Thursday to run for re-election on October 6, while the Supreme Court prepared to rule on the army chief’s eligibility to stand. A bench of nine judges is due to deliver a ruling on Friday that could have far-reaching consequences for Pakistan’s transition to greater democracy.
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/ 26 September 2007
Pakistan deployed dozens of police officers including elite commandos as the South African cricket team arrived in Karachi on Wednesday for a month-long tour of the country. South Africa are due to play two Tests and five one-day internationals in the violence-hit Islamic republic.
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/ 21 September 2007
Pakistan’s General Pervez Musharraf appointed a new military spy chief and made several other promotions on Friday, days after announcing his plan to step down as head of the army. Appointments are closely watched in Pakistan, as generals have ruled for more than half of the 60 years since the country was founded.
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/ 18 September 2007
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf will give up his post of army chief if he is re-elected president and he will be sworn in for a new term as a civilian, his lawyer told the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The promise to stand down as army chief removes a major objection to Musharraf’s proposed re-election by October 15.
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/ 17 September 2007
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf plans to quit as army chief to become a civilian leader, removing a key objection to his proposed re-election in October. Musharraf has been holding the post of army chief since he seized power in a military coup in 1999 despite calls from the opposition to quit the dual office.
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/ 14 September 2007
Former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto will return from self-imposed exile on October 18, her party said on Friday, adding to the political turmoil facing President Pervez Musharraf ahead of elections. The government said it will not obstruct Bhutto’s return, but added that she must still face corruption charges.
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/ 14 September 2007
At least 15 Pakistani soldiers were killed on Thursday in a suicide bombing at an army building near the capital Islamabad, the military said, the second major attack on the army this month. The blast occurred in the canteen of the building used by the army’s elite Special Services Group in the town of Tarbela Ghazi.
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/ 12 September 2007
Pakistani helicopter gunships and artillery pounded pro-Taliban militant hide-outs in a tribal region near the Afghan border, killing up to 40 insurgents, the army said on Wednesday. Hours earlier, dozens of Islamist fighters attacked a check post and kidnapped 12 troops a few kilometres away in the country’s north-west.
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/ 10 September 2007
Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif was arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia on Monday within hours of arriving home from exile, vowing to end the rule of President Pervez Musharraf. While with the deportation Musharraf has fended off the immediate challenge from a rival, the president is likely to face a backlash from many Pakistanis.
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/ 10 September 2007
Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif launched another phase of his political career on Monday, returning home to challenge the army chief who ousted him eight years ago. Despite the possibility of arrest on graft charges as he steps off his aircraft in Islamabad, Sharif says he is determined to end his exile.
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/ 8 September 2007
Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar returned home on Saturday after being expelled from the inaugural Twenty20 championship following a spat with teammate Mohammad Asif in South Africa. The 32-year-old struck his new-ball partner Asif with a bat during a practice session in Johannesburg on Thursday, prompting the team’s management to send him back.
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/ 5 September 2007
Pakistan’s Supreme Court began hearing legal challenges to President Pervez Musharraf’s rule on Wednesday, adding to the woes the embattled United States ally faces as he prepares to secure another term. Musharraf hopes to get re-elected by the national and provincial assemblies between September 15 and October 15.
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/ 4 September 2007
Two bombs exploded in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, killing 24 people and wounding 66, and at least one of the blasts was caused by a suicide attacker, officials said. The blasts come at a time of deepening political uncertainty in Pakistan, with the army chief and President, General Pervez Musharraf, preparing to try to secure a new term.
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/ 3 September 2007
Frenzied shuttling between London and Islamabad, not-so-secret deals and the machinations of <i>éminences grises</i> — a power shift in Pakistan is imminent. But who will come out on top? And can he or she bring stability? We look at President Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif can return home after seven years in exile, the chief of the court said. Sharif, a two-time prime minister, has vowed to oppose a bid by President Pervez Musharraf for another term in office. Sharif (57) was overthrown by army chief Musharraf in a 1999 coup.
Sixty years old, Pakistan remains trapped in the same revolving door between civilian and military rule that it has known all its life. Unstable, nuclear armed, regarded as a breeding ground for Islamist militancy and hiding place for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Pakistan is a country the West cannot take its eyes off.
As Pakistan marks its 60th anniversary, the country finds itself chafing under military rule with its identity and very existence threatened by a rising tide of Islamic extremism. Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and its Taliban allies plot insurrection and global terror from bases in Pakistan’s northern tribal zones.
Pakistan’s beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf has no plans to impose emergency rule, contrary to widespread reports that he was about to announce the authoritarian measure, the president of the ruling party said on Thursday. ”There is no possibility of an emergency,” Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the president of Pakistan Muslim League, said.
Embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was set to decide on Thursday whether to impose emergency rule due to ”external and internal threats”, a government spokesperson said. Official sources said late on Wednesday they believed that a proclamation of a state of emergency was likely following a meeting later on Thursday at the president’s camp outside Islamabad.
Pakistan on Wednesday changed venues for two of its one-day international cricket matches against South Africa ahead of a tour next month, officials said. The Pakistan Cricket Board cited a lack of cricket facilities in Peshawar and Rawalpindi as reasons for the change, but sources inside the governing body said the fragile security situation in both cities was the main reason.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday cancelled a trip to Afghanistan to attend a key anti-terrorism meeting, citing a previous engagement amid heightened security concerns. On the eve of a high-profile meeting of leaders from volatile regions bordering the two countries, Musharraf telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to tell him that he would not attend.
United States President George Bush on Friday described the prospect of US strikes against al-Qaeda in Pakistan as ”unsavoury,” saying Washington respected its ally’s sovereignty, the Pakistani government said. It said Bush made the comments to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in a telephone call.
Pakistan boosted security on Saturday fearing further attacks a day after a suicide bombing during protests at Islamabad’s pro-Taliban Red Mosque killed 14 people. Authorities were also investigating how the attacker was able to strike at a crowded market in the heart of the capital.
A suspected suicide bombing killed at least 11 people and wounded 43 others on Friday at a hotel near Islamabad’s Red Mosque, after religious students occupied the mosque and demanded the return of its pro-Taliban cleric. The blast occurred soon after police had fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters occupying the mosque.