Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani yesterday secured an unprecedented unanimous vote of confidence from parliament, tightening his grip on power in the nuclear-armed state.
Opposition parties backed the resolution backing Gilani after he called for their support for democracy and stability.
A coalition lawmaker had moved a resolution for the vote of confidence, which Gilani won from all 342 lower house members of parliament.
"The resolution is passed unanimously," Speaker Famida Mirza told the house.
A key aide of murdered opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, Gilani will lead a coalition that won general elections last month, trouncing loyalists of US-ally Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistan has been a bulwark in the US-led fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US.
The country has suffered an unprecedented wave of violence including suicide bombings in the past year blamed on al-Qaeda and Taliban militants trying to destabilize the country.
Gilani on Tuesday told US President George W. Bush that a broader approach to the "war on terror" was necessary.
Meanwhile, a senior US official visiting Pakistan held out the prospect of increased assistance for the new government on Friday, while stressing the need to work together in the fight against al-Qaeda.
US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said there were militants in Pakistani tribal areas planning attacks on Pakistan, Afghanistan, Europe, the US and elsewhere.
"We want to move together to help Pakistan be safe and have economic opportunities and we want to move together to make Pakistan a success as a democratic society," Boucher said.
"So, as the government lays out its plan, in that regard, we will look for the proper ways to support," he said.
A body of opinion was forming in the US that Pakistan should get more assistance, he said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS