Posted in News Briefs, tagged Coalition, Terrorism, U.S. on July 4, 2008 | 6 Comments »
This past week, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher paid a visit to Pakistan, and on Wednesday said that the country “had a raft of pressing problems on its plate,” following a meeting with Pakistani leaders in Islamabad. Reuters and the AP quoted him saying, “The problem Pakistani people face is the danger of [...]
Posted in News Briefs, tagged Coalition, Economy on July 1, 2008 | 13 Comments »
In an effort to control the country’s ballooning budget deficit, Pakistan’s government announced “plans to phase out politically sensitive fuel subsidies during the new financial year,” reported the Financial Times today. The news outlet added,
The government spent $2.4bn (€1.5bn, £1.2bn) during the fiscal year that ended yesterday to subsidize domestic fuel prices and protect consumers [...]
Posted in News Briefs, Op-Eds, tagged Terrorism, Coalition, Taliban, U.S. on June 26, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Although political developments (i.e. the Nawaz Sharif by-election controversy) caused quite a stir in media coverage of Pakistan this week, reports related to the militant and Taliban threat also garnered significant news attention. On Thursday, militants in the NWFP reportedly torched a state-owned hotel/ski resort in Swat. According to BBC News, “The nighttime attack follows [...]
Posted in News Briefs, tagged Coalition, Judiciary, Nawaz, PML-N, PPP on June 25, 2008 | 1 Comment »
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court postponed the by-election in the constituency where PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif would have run, before the controversial Lahore High Court ruling on Monday, [see previous post]. Following Monday’s development, supporters of Nawaz’s party reacted with outrage, and PML-N lawmakers staged a walkout from the National Assembly on Tuesday. According to [...]
Posted in Op-Eds, tagged PPP, Coalition, Zardari, Judiciary on June 17, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Today, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari announced that “he would decide when the judges sacked on November 3, 2007 would be reinstated.” Interesting, coming from a man who isn’t an elected member of Parliament, but who still calls the shots. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the iconic 70’s film, The Godfather. Granted, Zardari is not [...]
Posted in News Briefs, Op-Eds, tagged Terrorism, Coalition, Musharraf, Taliban, Judiciary, U.S., NATO, Balochistan, Afghanistan on June 16, 2008 | 7 Comments »
It has been quite an eventful few days for Pakistan. First, following the end of the lawyers’ “Long March” [see related post] this past week, the movement’s top leader, Aitzaz Ahsan promised more protests today. Although he did not provide a future date for these protests, “his comments indicated that the lawyers did not intend [...]
Posted in News Briefs, tagged Coalition, Judiciary, Musharraf, Nawaz, Zardari on June 9, 2008 | 7 Comments »
About 1,000 Pakistani lawyers and political activists gathered on Monday for the beginning of the widely-covered cross country rally, dubbed the “Long March.” This march “was heralded by gatherings in major cities and is expected to culminate later this week with a rally and sit-in outside parliament” in Pakistan’s capital, noted the Associated Press. [...]
Posted in News Briefs, tagged Coalition, Musharraf on June 7, 2008 | 3 Comments »
In the past few days, Western media coverage of Pakistan was dominated by speculation of President Pervez Musharraf’s resignation from office. However, according to Reuters, the president said today that “he had no immediate plan to resign or go into exile, in a bid to quash rising speculation he will quit office soon.” The news [...]
Posted in News Briefs, tagged Coalition, Economy on June 1, 2008 | 1 Comment »
On Saturday, the State Bank of Pakistan [SBP] released its quarterly report, in which it announced that the country’s economy “will expand by less than 6 percent for the first time in five years amid double-digit inflation and ballooning budget and trade deficits.” As a result of both international and homegrown factors, the Bank noted [...]
Posted in News Briefs, tagged Coalition, Musharraf, Economy on May 29, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Following yesterday’s breaking news story that the coalition government reportedly agreed to “expel” Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf from office, media outlets today reported that the Pakistani military and the Presidency moved to quell these notions. Although The News reported that Musharraf met with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Ashfaq Kayani at the Army House late Wednesday [PST], after [...]
