Hamid Mir is the Executive Editor of Geo TV in Islamabad and he has also interviewed Osama bin Laden, Tony Blair, Condoleezza Rice, General Pervaiz Musharraf, Hamid Karzai, L K Advani and other international leaders. 
ISLAMABAD: The deadlock between the local Taliban and government will soon be over with the release of kidnapped ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin, according to sources.
The Taliban will release the kidnapped ambassador as a goodwill gesture and they will restart their negotiations with the government officials in a few days. The talks between the Taliban and the government officials were suspended a few days ago due to the continued presence of the Army in the tribal areas. Informed sources are not hopeful of any breakthrough in the coming round of talks due to the absence of leadership of the main political parties. It was learnt that Baitullah Mehsud wanted Nawaz Sharif to become a part of the negotiations due to his role in implementing the Bhurban Declaration.
Pakistan's new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani is famous as 'Mr No' in his Pakistan Peoples Party.
It was widely speculated that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will ask Gillani to quit after three months after Zardari becomes a member of the national assembly through a by-election.
But Zardari has rejected speculation and said that the Makhdoom from Multan will be the prime minister for five years.
President Pervez Musharraf cannot afford to hold a fair and free election on February 18 in Pakistan. That is why rigging in the forthcoming election is the virtual writing on the wall.
In a recent interview, Musharraf claimed that Pakistan would have the Mother of all Elections on February 18, but many observers think it will be the mother of all poll riggings. Why will Musharraf rig the elections in spite of his tall claims of free and fair polls? Because Musharraf will not survive if the Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif get two third majority in the next National Assembly.
(Editor's Note: As his colleague and Canada Free Press columnist, the Polish-based journalist David Dastych, Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir is alive and "kicking", reporting from Swat Valley, which is a territory under Taliban control). GOOD NEWS! Hamid Mir is alive and "kicking", reporting from Swat Valley (see below), which is a territory under Taliban control.)
MATTA-Swat-The imposition of emergency in Pakistan has not put any pressure on the Taliban in Swat district, who have not only announced the imposition of Shariah but also removed national flags from all the government buildings in the areas under their control.
Islamabad-Pakistan: General Pervez Musharraf is planning again to attack the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, with the active support of Benazir Bhutto and with the covert support of the USA. High level meetings have been going on in Islamabad for the last two days to chalk out a new strategy against Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is fast becoming a real threat to the fragile Musharraf-Benazir agreement, by puncturing the highly publicized presidential ordinance through which PPP leadership got amnesty from corruption cases. A top government official claims that the chief justice is also becoming a threat against the war on terror because he provided relief to many pro-al Qaeda and pro-Taliban elements who were in the custody of intelligence agencies without any formal charges.
ISLAMABAD: Even before the Supreme Court ruled that the presidential election should go ahead as planned, President Pervez Musharraf had emerged a political winner.
Musharraf had successfully taken revenge on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by destroying the traditional political role of the Pakistan People's Party, founded in 1967 against a military dictator, General Ayub Khan.