Pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan - It was barely 4 a.m. when 19-year-old Rinkal Kumari disappeared from her home in a small village in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. When her parents awoke, they found only her slippers and a scarf outside the door. A few hours later her father got a call telling him that his daughter, a Hindu, had converted to Islam to marry a Muslim boy. Only days later, Seema Bibi, a Christian woman in the province of Punjab, was kidnapped along with her four children after her husband couldn't repay a loan to a large landlord.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A surging crowd of mourners on Friday touched and kissed the coffin of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, slain by a suicide bomber claiming to carry a Taliban peace message, and vented at their own government and its efforts to reconcile with the insurgency. In angry chants at a hilltop cemetery, grieving followers of Rabbani's political faction vilified President Hamid Karzai, blamed Taliban insurgents for Afghanistan's woes, and denounced Pakistan for allegedly stirring up the conflict.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - After meeting for more three hours here Wednesday with Afghan and Pakistani leaders, Secretary of State John Kerry reported progress in relaunching talks but warned, "We're not going to raise expectations or promise results that can't be delivered. " Instead, Kerry said before boarding a plane to return to Washington, the leaders agreed to "under-promise, but deliver. " "We're all going to go home and do our homework," Kerry said, flanked by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.

WASHINGTON - A Senate panel expressed its outrage Thursday over Pakistan's conviction of a doctor who helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden, voting to cut aid to Islamabad by $33 million - $1 million for every year of the physician's 33-year sentence for high treason. The punitive move came on top of deep reductions the Appropriations Committee already had made to President Obama's budget request for Pakistan, a reflection of the growing congressional anger over its cooperation in combating terrorism.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The confrontation between Pakistan's civilian government and its powerful army escalated sharply Wednesday when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani fired the defense secretary, and the military warned that remarks by Gilani this week had "potentially grievous consequences. " The removal of the retired general who was the top bureaucrat in the defense ministry - replaced him with a ruling-party loyalist - fueled rumors that the government is considering changing the military's leadership, a move that is legally authorized but poses huge risks.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's prime minister toned down his criticism of the country's powerful generals Wednesday, a sign of lessening tension between the civilian government and the army that some predicted could topple the nation's leaders. The two sides have long been in conflict, but tempers flared in recent months over a secret memo allegedly sent by the government to Washington last year asking for help in stopping a supposed army coup after the U.S. operation to kill al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

In September 2009, I sat next to Pakistan's former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, at a poolside dinner in his honor in Villanova. When he flew home from a self-imposed, four-year exile two weeks ago, I couldn't help recalling our conversation. The former president spoke about his secret efforts to produce a framework for ending the bitter 66-year-old conflict between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Such an accord might have prevented the current jihadi surge in Pakistan, and ensured a far more hopeful future for Afghanistan.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said yesterday that pro- Saddam Hussein feeling had been sweeping her country since the allied bombing of Iraq began. Still, she said, she does not expect Pakistan to withdraw the 10,000 troops it is contributing to the U.S.-led coalition in the Persian Gulf war. "There are strident and emotional calls for pulling the troops out of Saudi Arabia," Bhutto told a World Affairs Council audience in Center City. "And in fact people who do not carry Saddam Hussein's picture are assaulted in the streets, their cars are broken down, their windowpanes are smashed.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Despite a bloody campaign marred by Taliban attacks, Pakistan holds historic elections Saturday pitting a former cricket star against a two-time prime minister once exiled by the army and an incumbent blamed for power blackouts and inflation. The vote marks the first time in Pakistan's 65-year history that a civilian government has completed its full term and handed over power in democratic elections. Previous governments have been toppled by military coups or sacked by presidents allied with the powerful army.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's government appointed a liberal lawmaker and rights activist Wednesday as its U.S. ambassador, swiftly replacing an envoy who was forced out amid allegations that he sought Washington's help in trying to rein in Pakistan's powerful military. Sherry Rehman, who has faced extremist death threats for speaking out against Pakistan's antiblasphemy laws often used to persecute Christians, appeared to be acceptable to both the army and the weak civilian government.

By Rashid Khattak Despite threats of violence by Taliban insurgents, Pakistani turnout for Saturday's elections was at 60 percent, with voters clearly signaling their confidence in the country's democratic process. The party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted in a military coup in 1999 and now leads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, has won a majority of seats in the National Assembly. Now comes the difficult part. The country is plagued by terrorism, inflation, an energy crisis, and a weak economy and joblessness.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Nawaz Sharif, a wealthy businessman who twice served as Pakistan's prime minister in the 1990s and brought the country into the world's nuclear club, appeared Saturday night to be headed to an unprecedented third term in the post. He declared victory to supporters in Lahore, where his Pakistan Muslim League-N has long dominated politics, after partial and unofficial results in a landmark national election showed his center-right party had locked in enough seats in the National Assembly to lead a coalition government.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Despite a bloody campaign marred by Taliban attacks, Pakistan holds historic elections Saturday pitting a former cricket star against a two-time prime minister once exiled by the army and an incumbent blamed for power blackouts and inflation. The vote marks the first time in Pakistan's 65-year history that a civilian government has completed its full term and handed over power in democratic elections. Previous governments have been toppled by military coups or sacked by presidents allied with the powerful army.

Benazir Bhutto's ghost hovers over Saturday's elections for parliament in Pakistan. The face of the gutsy former prime minister, who was assassinated as she campaigned in Pakistan's last national elections, still adorns commercials of her Pakistan People's Party. (It won in 2008, but is failing this time). What is missing in this campaign is Bhutto's plea for Pakistan to confront its Taliban problem before the group undermines the state and society. I was in Pakistan at the time and can't forget her passion.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Voters head to the polls Saturday to elect a new parliament after five years of bitter disputes with the United States over bases for the Afghan Taliban, U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas, and the covert operation that killed Osama bin Laden. But those topics have been largely ignored in the election campaign. Instead, this election season - the first time in the country's history that elections have followed the completion of a civilian government's term without a military coup - has been characterized by a growing sentiment among Pakistanis that casting votes is less about political preferences than it is about civic responsibility.

By Rashid Khattak For Pakistanis in Philadelphia and abroad, Saturday's election is seen as a significant step for the future of democracy there. This is the first time in Pakistan's 66-year history that a democratically elected government is completing its five-year term and has scheduled elections. Mohammad Tariq, a 40-year-old Philly cabdriver from Pakistan, says the continuity that results from the democratic process is a must for honest politicians to emerge and for the country to develop.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - Military operations and insurgent attacks in lawless districts of Pakistan left eight members of the security forces and around 30 militants and criminal suspects dead on Sunday, officials said. Two soldiers and 16 militants were killed in clashes in the Tirah Valley area of the Khyber tribal region in the northwest, the military said in a statement. Another three soldiers were wounded in the remote mountainous district near the Afghan border. The army launched an offensive last month into the valley, targeting the Pakistani Taliban and an allied group, Lashkar-e-Islam.

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan border policeman was killed in an exchange of fire with Pakistani troops along the country's contested eastern border, an Afghan security official said Thursday, in an incident that threatens to further inflame tensions. Pakistani forces fired artillery rounds late Wednesday at Afghan border police in the Goshta district of Nangarhar province, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi. In an ensuing five-hour firefight, one border policeman was killed, he said.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - After meeting for more three hours here Wednesday with Afghan and Pakistani leaders, Secretary of State John Kerry reported progress in relaunching talks but warned, "We're not going to raise expectations or promise results that can't be delivered. " Instead, Kerry said before boarding a plane to return to Washington, the leaders agreed to "under-promise, but deliver. " "We're all going to go home and do our homework," Kerry said, flanked by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.

ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf fled court in a speeding vehicle Thursday to avoid arrest after his bail was revoked in a case involving his decision to fire senior judges while in power over five years ago. The harried escape broadcast live on Pakistani TV marked a new low in Musharraf's troubled return from exile last month to seek a political comeback in the May 11 parliamentary election. Musharraf, 69, made his exit with the help of bodyguards, who pushed him past police officers and paramilitary soldiers and helped him into a black SUV that sped off with a member of his security team hanging on. Lawyers shouted taunts: "Look who is running!