Pakistani investigators believe Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the Elite Force official who assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer, was backed by the religious parties and did not act on his own.

Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the security guard who assassinated Pakistan Punjab governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad on Tuesday, has told investigators he had discussed the murder plot with his fellow securitymen, sources said.

Pakistan Punjab’s liberal governor, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his security guard here on Tuesday for terming the blasphemy law a “black law”.
The security guard — identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri — shot the governor when he was about to get into his car at Kohsar Market, in Islamabad’s posh Sector

Rival factions of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) have come to the rescue of the Pakistan People’s Party-led government, at least to the extent that they will not be part of any move to dislodge the present set-up.

The Pakistan People’s Party-led government on Sunday moved one step closer to a collapse as a key ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), decided to formally quit the Treasury benches.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has been put on the razor’s edge by key ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which pulled out of the Federal Cabinet and threatened to quit the alliance altogether if its demands were not met.

At least 45 people were killed and over 100 injured in a suicide attack in Pakistan’s tribal Bajaur Agency on Christmas Day, officials said on Saturday.
“We can confirm 45 deaths and the toll may increase as several people are badly wounded. The bomber was a female,” a security official at the site said, adding the suicide bomber detonated her suicide vest in front of the office of the World Food Program (WFP) in Khar, the HQ of Bajaur Agency.

Former Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf has said that his own generals and soldiers, rather than politicians, betrayed him. “I will not blame the politicians. My own men (soldiers and generals) disappointed me. They betrayed me,” Mr Musharraf said. In an interview to the private Pakistani channel Geo TV, Mr Musharraf said the

Pakistan has told Bangladesh in clear terms that it will never apologise for alleged war crimes in 1971 in then East Pakistan, official sources said.
“It has been conveyed to Bangladesh very clearly that this can’t happen. We will not apologise for any crime or anything,” a highly placed government official told this newspaper, referring to a recent meeting with a Bangladeshi delegation led by their foreign secretary, Mohammed Mijarul Quayes.

A new political alliance is in the offing in Pakistan to challenge the fragile government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), political sources said.
“The Opposition parties are joining hands. They are planning to form a new alliance together with the angry partners of the government to challenge the PPP,” an