Pakistan: Voices of reason

The news that Salman Taseer, the powerful governor of Pakistan’s most populous province, had been gunned down by his own security guard for standing up against the country’s draconian blasphemy laws, came as a bleak reminder of political fissures that divide the country. - 12/01/2011, World Politics

Sadiq Khan: Pakistan: The voices of reason must not be silenced by fear

The news that Salman Taseer, the powerful governor of Pakistan’s most populous province, had been gunned down by his own security guard for standing up against the country’s draconian blasphemy laws, ...- 12/01/2011, World

Pakistan u-turn on fuel price to ease crisis

Pakistan's government will reverse an unpopular fuel price rise, Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Prime Minister, said yesterday, in what appeared to be a concession to the opposition in a bid to ease the latest political crisis.- 07/01/2011, Asia

Zardari partner quits coalition

President Asif Ali Zardari's government could collapse after the second largest party in Pakistan's ruling coalition said it was quitting to join the opposition. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement said the decision was taken because of government fuel prices policy. The government has now lost its majority.- 03/01/2011, Asia

Patrick Cockburn: Nixon adopted this tactic in Vietnam. It won't work any better now than it did then

Could US Special Forces make a lunge across the Pakistan border in pursuit of the Taliban just as American and South Vietnamese troops briefly invaded Cambodia in pursuit of the Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces in 1970?- 22/12/2010, Commentators

Suicide bomber kills 15 on bus

A suicide bomber blew up a bus in north-west Pakistan yesterday, killing 15 people in the third attack this week. The blast, like the earlier ones, took place close to the border regions with Afghanistan, the stronghold of Islamist militants threatening the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan.- 09/12/2010, Asia

Suicide bomber kills eight in Pakistan

A suicide bomber blew himself up him in a market in north-west Pakistan today, killing at least eight people. The blast took place close to Pakistan's border regions with Afghanistan, where Islamist militants are strong. City police chief Dilawar Khan Bangash said several people were wounded. State-run TV put the death toll at 12. The target o...- 08/12/2010, Asia

Security fears over Zardari's nuclear arsenal

Pakistan is portrayed in newly released secret cables as an unreliable friend to the United States and Britain, with a civilian leader who worries about being "taken out" by his army and an ingrained ambivalence about co-operating fully on nuclear proliferation and the fight against terror. - 01/12/2010, Asia

Pakistani mourners killed in sewage tank

More than a dozen mourners at a funeral in Pakistan were killed when the cover of a sewage tank they were standing on collapsed yesterday. - 24/11/2010, Asia

Andrew Buncombe: Who has the "most free" media - India or Pakistan?

Across both India and Pakistan, the media is booming. �New television channels are starting up and people are buying more newspapers than ever before. Forget about the crisis the traditional media is ...- 11/11/2010, World

Minister: Pakistan government will not support Haider

Zulqarnain Haider, the Pakistan cricketer who retired from international cricket after receiving death threats, has been branded "weak" by his country's sports minister. Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani insists the Pakistan government will not support Haider's asylum application in the UK, and hit out at the 24-year-old for damaging Pakistan's ...- 10/11/2010, Cricket

Missile strike kills six in Pakistan

A suspected US missile strike has killed at least six people in north-western Pakistan near the Afghan border, intelligence officials said today. The officials said the strike from an unmanned aircraft targeted a house in a refugee camp in the North Waziristan tribal area. The identities of the people killed in the strike were not known, but the ar...- 10/10/2010, Asia

Patrick Cockburn: Pakistan won't act against the Taliban

Pakistan has highlighted the hold it has over the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan by stopping their supply trucks from crossing the Afghan frontier. The ban is in retaliation for US helicopters making an attack on the Pakistani side of the border and killing three Pakistani soldiers.- 02/10/2010, Commentators

Pakistan manager resigns after tour

Yawar Saeed has resigned as Pakistan team manager, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced yesterday. His decision comes as no surprise after he oversaw a turbulent tour of England which saw his team beaten in the Test, one-day international and Twenty20 series.- 28/09/2010, Cricket

Gunmen kill two worshippers in mosque attack

Gunmen opened fire on worshippers inside a mosque in eastern Pakistan today, killing two people, police said. Senior police official Babar Bakhat Qureshi said seven others were wounded in the attack in the city of Bahawalpore. He said the motive behind the attack on the Sunni mosque was not immediately clear. Pakistan has a history of se...- 25/09/2010, Asia