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There are conflicting signals about what is happening inside the Zardari government, and mixed signals on U.S. and India. Pakistani experts are now convinced that India's 'evidence' regarding Mumbai is not watertight. But a pro-U.S. core within the Pakistani government is preventing Islamabad from talking openly about it. The Pakistani media and political class remain confused about priorities, discussing nonissues such as the marks of a daughter of a senior judge and political backstabbing when the country faces a gathering storm on its international borders. The debate within military circles is substantive. But the military won't intervene. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— There are some indications that the Zardari government is taking a tougher line toward India and toward the proxy U.S. pressure regarding the Mumbai attacks and the U.S. attacks inside Pakistan. This change, if real, contrasts sharply with the initial passive attitude of the members of the government...

SWAT, known for its green meadows, gushing river and snow-capped mountains, has unfortunately come to relive its historic name, Suvastu — the white serpent — whose tenacity and viciousness has stung the political and military leadership so badly that both are now looking for new ways to put a lid on the monster of growing bloodshed and reclaim its fast-shrinking territory. The idyllic valley has gone really bad, its image distorted beyond recognition. Pakistan's most popular tourist destination is now haunted by death and fear; few officials now dare to go and serve there. Nearly 800 policemen — half of the total sanctioned strength of police in Swat, have either deserted or proceeded on long leave on one pretext or the other. Only one of the 600 police recruits trained by the military at the Punjab Regimental Centre in Mardan, volunteered to go and serve, while the others plainly refused to head to what is now being called the 'valley of death'. The second phase of the mil...

Revealing excerpts from Benazir's memoirs. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] As Mr Asif Zardari, the widower of Ms Benazir Bhutto, becomes the new President of Pakistan, We look back into his wife's autobiography, Daughter of Destiny , to find out just how he became Pakistan's First Husband. So, here is the story of how Pakistan's most famous woman got attracted to a rich man's son who would, due to his connections to her , would one day lay claim to his nation's top post. In Ms Benazir Bhutto's own words: Family pressure My personal life had taken a dramatic turn on July 29, 1987, when I agreed to an arranged marriage on the prompting of my family. First whispers started earlier Soon before the family was to gather in Cannes in July 1985, my mother and Auntie Manna approached me with a proposal from the landowning Zardari family on behalf of their son, Asif. Old crush? When we were teenagers, he'd watched me enter and leave the movie theater his father owned. A...

Durrani's Firing Reveals How Pakistan Is Penetrated At The Top M. A. Durrani was busy leaking information to embarrass Pakistan internationally. He was part of an influential group in Islamabad that worked overtime to ensure Pakistan accepted blame for Mumbai and initiated action against the military and ISI without verifying the so-called evidence. Mr. Durrani says his leaks had the blessings of President Zardari. Who are they working for? Alarmingly, Pakistan's security stands breached at the highest levels in the capital, where shady individuals are working for foreign interests with impunity. It is time for a major purge to cleanse Pakistani government and politics of foreign assets. Mr. Durrani should be debriefed as to whose interests he was serving in his sensitive position. By AHMED QURAISHI Thursday, 8 January 2008. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A secretive powerful group in the top corridors of the Pakistani government has been working overtime for the pa...