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Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
Gilani asks one-third of Pakistanis to leave the country
LONDON: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani thinks one third of Pakistanis should leave the country. ìWhat is stopping them?î he asked a bewildered CNN interviewer, when questioned about corruption in his government.
The CNN anchor posed the question at the very end of her interview and quoted a Gallop Poll which said only 20 per cent supported him while one third of Pakistanis wanted to leave the country because it was a dysfunctional society. To her amazement, Gilani responded: ìWhy donít they leave, who is stopping them.î
In another interview, Gilani also said that cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan had no future in Pakistani politics and doubted if he will win his own seat.With The Guardian, PM Gilani was scathing of Imran Khan, who is positioning himself as one of the main challengers of Gilani's Pakistan People's Party in next year's elections, and laughed at the suggestion that the cricket hero could one day become the premier of Pakistan. Gilani added: "He's a good cricketer. But he has no future in Pakistan."
Gilani rejected claims Pakistan sheltered Osama bin Laden and said the fact the late al-Qaeda leader was able to live undetected for so long in Pakistan was down to a universal "intelligence failure".
"There is no complicity. I think it's an intelligence failure from all over the world," Gilani said. He denied suggestions that elements within Pakistan's military may have been aware of Bin Laden's hideout. He added: "Why should we do that? We have suffered the most."
Gilani said he didn't know whether al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was in Pakistan. "If there is any credible information, please share it with us, so we can be quick and achieve our targets," he said. Asked if Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, might also be in the country, the prime minister replied: "I don't know. Please tell us." Gilani said CIA was far more "powerful" than Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, and would have a better idea.
Gilani said: "Pakistan has paid a huge price. Some 35,000 people have been martyred. 5,000 police and soldiers have been killed."
Gilani admitted recent relations with the Obama administration hadn't been "too normal" but said the CIA and ISI were still working hard together to wipe out ñ or "achieve", as he put it ñ high-level targets. But he claimed it was practically impossible to police to cover the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border, where thousands crossed every day. "We don't know if they are tourists or militants," he said.
The paper noted that Gilaniís government has become increasingly unpopular, with Gilani given a token jail sentence last month by the country's Supreme Court. He shrugged off his ongoing legal woes, for not writing a letter to Swiss authorities.
Pm Gilani also spoke to CNN and the television described his fate as ìhanging in the balanceî. "There's a trust deficit between both the countries, between both the governments," Gilani told CNN. "That is the reason we want to work for new terms of engagement and cooperation with the United States."
CNN noted that Gilani faces ìmyriad national woes: a faltering economy, widespread poverty and corruption and now, his own futureî.About conviction from the Supreme Court, Gilani said that only parliament had the right to force him from office.
"If I'm disqualified, notified by the Speaker, then yes I have to," he said.Gilani defended himself just as strongly as he defended Pakistan and the course it has taken in battling terrorism. "Whatever I have done is according to the Constitution," he claimed. "It is not on any moral turpitude or financial corruption."
Gilani asks one-third of Pakistanis to leave the country - thenews.com.pk
CNN interview: PM Gilani’s political faux pas
While political faux pas are not unusual in Pakistan, the country’s prime minister’s recent comments take the cake – and were, funnily enough, reminiscent of the phrase “let them eat cake” made popular by French monarch Marie Antoinette.
In an interview during his five-day visit to London, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani left CNN’s Becky Anderson literally at a loss for words.
When asked about the latest Gallup poll which suggests that one-fifth of Pakistanis want to leave the country, the premier didn’t hesitate to respond: “Why don’t they just leave then”.
The matter-of-fact response was followed by, “Who’s stopping them?”
While his comments were followed by an apparent awkward silence between the interviewer and interviewee, the CNN interview clip has gone viral on the internet by fervent tweeters and bloggers.
The rest of the interview was less improvised, with the premier defending his contempt conviction and his country’s stance on drone strikes being counter-productive.
When asked, twice, if he would resign, Prime Minister Gilani said: “If
I am disqualified and notified by the [National Assembly] speaker, then yes, I will have to.”
When asked how he feels about US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s remarks that Pakistan needed to do more to fight terrorism, the premier stated: “It’s now time for them to do more”.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2012.
Gilani asks one-third of Pakistanis to leave the country
LONDON: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani thinks one third of Pakistanis should leave the country. ìWhat is stopping them?î he asked a bewildered CNN interviewer, when questioned about corruption in his government.
The CNN anchor posed the question at the very end of her interview and quoted a Gallop Poll which said only 20 per cent supported him while one third of Pakistanis wanted to leave the country because it was a dysfunctional society. To her amazement, Gilani responded: ìWhy donít they leave, who is stopping them.î
In another interview, Gilani also said that cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan had no future in Pakistani politics and doubted if he will win his own seat.With The Guardian, PM Gilani was scathing of Imran Khan, who is positioning himself as one of the main challengers of Gilani's Pakistan People's Party in next year's elections, and laughed at the suggestion that the cricket hero could one day become the premier of Pakistan. Gilani added: "He's a good cricketer. But he has no future in Pakistan."
Gilani rejected claims Pakistan sheltered Osama bin Laden and said the fact the late al-Qaeda leader was able to live undetected for so long in Pakistan was down to a universal "intelligence failure".
"There is no complicity. I think it's an intelligence failure from all over the world," Gilani said. He denied suggestions that elements within Pakistan's military may have been aware of Bin Laden's hideout. He added: "Why should we do that? We have suffered the most."
Gilani said he didn't know whether al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was in Pakistan. "If there is any credible information, please share it with us, so we can be quick and achieve our targets," he said. Asked if Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, might also be in the country, the prime minister replied: "I don't know. Please tell us." Gilani said CIA was far more "powerful" than Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, and would have a better idea.
Gilani said: "Pakistan has paid a huge price. Some 35,000 people have been martyred. 5,000 police and soldiers have been killed."
Gilani admitted recent relations with the Obama administration hadn't been "too normal" but said the CIA and ISI were still working hard together to wipe out ñ or "achieve", as he put it ñ high-level targets. But he claimed it was practically impossible to police to cover the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border, where thousands crossed every day. "We don't know if they are tourists or militants," he said.
The paper noted that Gilaniís government has become increasingly unpopular, with Gilani given a token jail sentence last month by the country's Supreme Court. He shrugged off his ongoing legal woes, for not writing a letter to Swiss authorities.
Pm Gilani also spoke to CNN and the television described his fate as ìhanging in the balanceî. "There's a trust deficit between both the countries, between both the governments," Gilani told CNN. "That is the reason we want to work for new terms of engagement and cooperation with the United States."
CNN noted that Gilani faces ìmyriad national woes: a faltering economy, widespread poverty and corruption and now, his own futureî.About conviction from the Supreme Court, Gilani said that only parliament had the right to force him from office.
"If I'm disqualified, notified by the Speaker, then yes I have to," he said.Gilani defended himself just as strongly as he defended Pakistan and the course it has taken in battling terrorism. "Whatever I have done is according to the Constitution," he claimed. "It is not on any moral turpitude or financial corruption."
Gilani asks one-third of Pakistanis to leave the country - thenews.com.pk
CNN interview: PM Gilani’s political faux pas
While political faux pas are not unusual in Pakistan, the country’s prime minister’s recent comments take the cake – and were, funnily enough, reminiscent of the phrase “let them eat cake” made popular by French monarch Marie Antoinette.
In an interview during his five-day visit to London, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani left CNN’s Becky Anderson literally at a loss for words.
When asked about the latest Gallup poll which suggests that one-fifth of Pakistanis want to leave the country, the premier didn’t hesitate to respond: “Why don’t they just leave then”.
The matter-of-fact response was followed by, “Who’s stopping them?”
While his comments were followed by an apparent awkward silence between the interviewer and interviewee, the CNN interview clip has gone viral on the internet by fervent tweeters and bloggers.
The rest of the interview was less improvised, with the premier defending his contempt conviction and his country’s stance on drone strikes being counter-productive.
When asked, twice, if he would resign, Prime Minister Gilani said: “If
I am disqualified and notified by the [National Assembly] speaker, then yes, I will have to.”
When asked how he feels about US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s remarks that Pakistan needed to do more to fight terrorism, the premier stated: “It’s now time for them to do more”.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2012.
