US-led NATO forces are facing a tough time in Afghanistan after Pakistan blockaded the main supply route and the Taliban stepped up attacks on vehicles and oil-tankers carrying essentials with nearly 60 trucks being destroyed in last three days.
Pakistan on Thursday accused India of adopting an 'untenable, illegal and amoral' position on the issue of Kashmir and said New Delhi should come forward for meaningful and result-oriented talks aimed at resolving the decades-old issue.
Three Pakistani soldiers were killed and another three injured when North Aatlantic Treaty Organisation helicopters shelled a Pakistani outpost in the restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, in the fourth cross-border attack into Pakistan in less than a week.
Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League and hard-line religious parties joined a rally in Islamabad organised by a front of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah, during which speakers called for a jihad to resolve the Kashmir issue. PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Samiul Haq and representatives of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference joined the rally organised by the Tehrik Azadi-e-Kashmir.
Addressing a news conference in the southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday, Minister of State for Defence Production Abdul Qayyum Jatoi accused the army of targeting unarmed people instead of focussing on its duty of defending the country's borders.
The allocations for military have been made while outlays on the development and non-development budgets have been slashed by 50 per cent and 20 per cent respectively to create fiscal space for rehabilitating the flood-affected population.
Top Pakistani officials are refusing to disclose how and on what the country's powerful spy agency Inter Services Intelligence spent a whopping Rs 5.55 billion allocated to it during 2007-08. "This is highly sensitive information and hence I can't talk about it at an open forum," Finance Secretary Salman Siddiqui told the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly or the lower house of parliament.
Pakistan on Tuesday called on India to 'review the practice' of describing Jammu and Kashmir as its 'integral part' of its territory, even as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani flayed the alleged human rights violations in the Valley. "Indians should quit the policy of finding a solution to the Kashmir issue under their constitution and they should review the practice of calling (Jammu and) Kashmir an integral part of India," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said.
Pakistan sought an "early and full resumption" of the dialogue process with India, saying it wants constructive, sustained and result-oriented talks on all issues, including the Kashmir problem.
The Afghanistan government will engage with Taliban elements which are not part of the Al Qaeda network as it continues its military campaign against extremism and terrorism, President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday. "We believe that while we are continuing our campaign against extremism and terrorist networks, the Al Qaeda and its associates, we will also seek means other than a military campaign to bring stability to Afghanistan and to Pakistan by extension," he said.
At least 13 people, including women and children, were killed and nine others injured on Thursday in a powerful explosion outside the home of a provincial minister in Quetta and a landmine blast in Kurram tribal area, the latest in a slew of terror strikes across Pakistan.
A group of 141 Indian fishermen were released by Pakistani authorities from a jail in the southern port city of Karachi, completing the process of freeing 442 fishermen who have completed their prison terms. The fishermen, freed from Malir Jail, will cross over to India via the Wagah land border on Tuesday.
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 20 people, including 11 policemen and four schoolchildren. The attacker targeted the main police station in Lakki Marwat, a key city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, shattering the premises. The police station, a nearby mosque and a government office collapsed while portions of two other government buildings were damaged in the blast.
Lakhvi's lawyer Khwaja Sultan, who has been accused by the prosecution of filing numerous petitions to delay the trial, told PTI that his client would not approach the Lahore High Court for bail.
Pakistani authorities issued orders for the release and repatriation of 442 Indian fishermen in the wake of a case filed in the Supreme Court regarding their unlawful detention.
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of seven suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks reserved till Monday, its decision on a bail petition filed by Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
Officials of the home and prisons departments of Punjab province and the local police force were quoted by the Daily Times newspaper as saying that there would be a "gradual" release of the detainees in the next few days
The Indian government has not yet been formally asked to start supplying the aid and the Foreign Office spokesman said the matter is still being discussed. "We are working on it and the decision will soon be made public," spokesman Abdul Basit said.
Pakistan slammed Afghan National Security Advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta for alleging that the country and its military intelligence were linked to terrorists, saying it would not be "distracted by such unfair remarks".
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