Pakistan

Call Comes During Four-Day Visit to Pakistan

May 27, 2008 -- Islamabad, Pakistan - Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), during a four-day visit to Pakistan, called for the immediate and unconditional restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and all other judges illegally removed by President Pervez Musharraf during last year's emergency rule.

A colorful bus in Pakistan: Photo by Steve Evans (CC)

Senator Feingold also urged the Bush Administration to end its silence on the issue.    » read more »

8 May 2008 -- Experts appearing before a congressional panel have voiced concerns about U.S. policies toward Pakistan and Afghanistan. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill on testimony before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee by former State Department and military officials.

Taliban flags on Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan: Photo by Talk Radio News Service (CC)    » read more »

7 May 2008 -- A top counterterrorism official says the United States has had a mixed record of success in the fight against al-Qaida terrorists. President Bush's nominee to run the National Counterterrorism Center, Michael Leiter, said Pakistan could do more to crackdown on terror safe-havens.

Afghanistan-Pakistan border station: Photo courtesy DOD

Michael Leiter, who has served as Acting Director of the National Counterterrosim Center since November of last year and is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate, listed a number of successes in the fight against terrorism, including tracking and disrupting plots.    » read more »

Initial observations preview full report due out soon

May 6, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) today helped unveil new findings from the independent Government Accountability Office showing the failure of $5.56 billion in U.S. taxpayer money since 9/11 intended to help defeat al Qaeda (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08735r.pdf).    » read more »

21 April 2008 -- Pakistan's new government has released an ailing top pro-Taliban militant involved in an insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan, after more than six years imprisonment.

Sufi Muhammad - head of the banned "Movement for the Enforcement of Sharia Law" - was freed Monday under a peace agreement with tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan.

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February 7, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) today introduced a resolution expressing condolences for the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and urging a concerted effort on the part of Pakistan and the United States to ensure that the government of Pakistan returns to the democratic path in the wake of her assassination.    » read more »

Joins Senate colleagues in sending a letter

January 22, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today joined his Senate colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to President Bush urging the President to act quickly to promote steps toward democracy, reconciliation and stability in Pakistan. The letter was signed by Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Charles Schumer (D-NY).    » read more »

January 22, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy and a bi-partisan group of Senate colleagues sent the following letter to President Bush regarding the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Benazir Bhutto and the stability of Pakistan.    » read more »

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 -- From political headlines to interviews with policymakers and economists, musicians and Bollywood royalty, "South Asia NOW" examines the latest in news, politics and culture of South Asia. "South Asia NOW" is America's first network show all about South Asia -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka - that includes reporting from ABC News correspondents based in the region and news and interviews with South Asia's most fascinating people.    » read more »

12 January 2008 -- Pakistan's President Prevez Musharraf has ruled out a U.N. inquiry into the assassination of opposition leader and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Ms. Bhutto's party has been calling for a U.N. investigation, comparing her death to the 2005 killing of former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Many Lebanese blame Syria for that killing.    » read more »

10 January 2008 -- Pakistani police say at least 20 people, mostly policemen, have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in the eastern city of Lahore.

Officials say more than 60 other people were wounded.

Thursday's blast ripped through a busy square in front of the Lahore High Court where dozens of police had gathered ahead of a planned protest by the the city's lawyers.

Local Police Chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal told local media that all but one of the victims were policemen.    » read more »

05 January 2008 -- The husband of slain Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has again called for a United Nations investigation into her death.

In an opinion piece published in The Washington Post newspaper Saturday, Asif Ali Zardari said a probe conducted by Pakistan's government will have no credibility. As he put it, "one does not put the fox in charge of the henhouse."

Zardari also urged the United States and Britain to support his call for a U.N. investigation.    » read more »

06 January 2008 -- Pakistan says it will not permit the United States to unilaterally hunt terrorists on its soil, despite a common desire to defeat radical Islamist militants. The statements from Pakistani officials follow a U.S. media report that the Bush administration has considered expanding U.S. military and intelligence operations in Pakistan's tribal regions, thought to be a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden.    » read more »

01/04/2008, MANCHESTER, NH-- Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson earlier today and thanked him for supporting immediate democracy in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Sharif and Governor Richardson discussed the modalities of an immediate transition to democracy in Pakistan and the steps necessary to guarantee free and fair elections.    » read more »

21 December 2007 -- Pakistani officials say at least 50 people have been killed in a suicide bombing at a mosque in the restive northwest, during prayers for the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival.

Officials say dozens more were wounded in the blast that took place Friday at the mosque inside the residential compound of former interior minister, Aftab Sherpao, in Charsadda - a district in North West Frontier Province.

Local police say the attacker blew himself up in a row of worshippers behind Sherpao and his son. A spokesman said both father and son escaped unhurt.    » read more »