Islamabad, Feb. 7 : Denouncing the Taliban for Wednesday’s suicide attack in Lower Dir, in which three US soldiers were killed along with nine others, including four girl students, a senior North West Frontier Province
(NWFP) has said that doors for peace talks with the banned extremists group has been closed following the attack.

“The doors of negotiation have closed for the Taliban and there will be no talks with them as they are still killing innocent people,” Bashir Ahmad Bilour said.

Islamabad, Jan 11 : Pakistan is entering a dangerous phase of militancy as the spate of terrorism and violence in the year gone by suggests, security experts said Monday.

A new terrorist nexus of local and international militants has evolved to hit the Pakistani state and society, the experts observed at the launch here of the Pakistan Annual Security Report 2009 published by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).

The militants have now their operational networks or at least facilities in major Pakistani cities, Online news agency quoted the experts as saying.

Islamabad, Jan 11 : Pakistan's armed forces have succeeded in destroying the Taliban infrastructure in the country's northwest, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said Monday.

Speaking to Elke Hoff, a member of the German Federal Parliament, who called on him here, Mukhtar said the security forces had successfully defeated the terrorists in Swat and South Waziristan Agency and they were now on the run, Online news agency reported.

Islamabad, Jan 11 : Pakistan's power shortfall has reached 4,000 MW with outages ranging up to 17 hours in rural areas and up to 12 hours in urban areas.

The current demand for electricity is 11,500 MW while generation has reduced to 7,500 MW from 8,000 MW, Online news agency reported.

This has forced outages that are badly affecting industrial and domestic consumers.

Consumers have now demanded that PEPCO divide the shortfall equally among the four provinces and the VVIP feeders to end the outages.

Islamabad, Jan 11 : A group of 100 people have become the first tourists to visit Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley after the area, once referred to as Switzerland of the East, was cleared of the Taliban.

What attracted the visitors, largely from Lahore, Gujranwala and other areas of Punjab, was the 10-day free stay from Jan 1-10 offered by the local hoteliers association, which is now hoping for the revival of the tourism industry in the district that has been ravaged by two-and-a-half-years of Taliban occupation.

Islamabad, Jan. 10 : British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said that there is no threat to the democratic set up of Pakistan, as Islamabad has the full backing of the international community in preserving the democracy.

The News quoted Miliband, as saying that a democratic set-up is the best option for Pakistan and the current government has proved this during the last two years.

Addressing the joint news conference with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi here on Saturday, Miliband said that a democratic government would ensure that all friends would support Pakistan.

Islamabad, Jan. 10 : British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said that Pakistan should have moved faster in prosecuting the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks.

The Daily Times quoted Miliband as saying that it was vital for improvement of Indo-Pak ties that Islamabad holds a speedy trial of the alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, and ensure that they are brought to justice.

He admitted that there is no point in hiding the fact that after the Mumbai attacks, when he was here in January 2009, he felt that Pakistan should have moved faster.

Islamabad, Jan 9 : Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has criticized the Obama administration’s decision to carry out extra security checks, including full-body pat downs, on people flying into the United States from
14 mostly Muslim countries, including Pakistan.

Gilani said that persistence with such policies, which lead to “consternation and anxiety among Pakistanis” could affect the bilateral ties between the two countries.

Islamabad, Jan. 9 : Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the international community should continue supporting Islamabad’s efforts to build itself into a peaceful, modern state.

The Daily Times quoted Qureshi, as telling the representatives of missions from European countries, Canada and the US that the government was committed to make Pakistan a peaceful country and required developed countries’ continuous support for the purpose.

Qureshi added that peace and stability in Afghanistan is necessary for a stable Pakistan, and as the situations in the two countries are interlinked, Pakistan would continue playing a positive role in improving its relations with the neighbouring country.

Islamabad, Jan. 9 : In a bid to escape the Pakistani military’s offensive in Malakand division, a large number of terrorists have fled to Karachi and South Waziristan, according to military commanders and militants’ families.

“I think these militants have fled to Karachi and Waziristan,” The Daily Times quoted Operation Commander Major General Ashfaq Nadeem, as saying.

Nadeem said intelligence agencies were on the hunt for these suspected terrorists in Karachi and some of them had already been arrested.

Islamabad, Jan. 9 : Pakistani investigators have started looking for the local links of the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers at a US base in Afghanistan last week.

The Dawn quoted official sources as saying that the suicide bomber, a Jordanian national Humam Belawi, could have stayed for several months in Pakistan before attacking the CIA base in Khost Province of Afghanistan.

“He came to Pakistan with a fake name, and later he travelled to tribal areas with his local Taliban guide from where he reportedly entered Afghanistan’s Paktia province,” they added.

Humam is believed to have been working for the Jordanian intelligence and the CIA as well as Al-Qaeda as a double agent.

Islamabad, Jan 9 : British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Saturday he is visiting Pakistan to understand the challenges the country is facing on political, economic and security fronts and how it is meeting them.

"The reasons for my visit this weekend are, first of all, to hear from Pakistan's leaders not just in Islamabad but elsewhere in the country about the political, economic and security challenges that Pakistan faces and how it's going about meeting them," a statement issued by the British High Commission quoted Miliband as saying.

Islamabad, Jan 9 - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Saturday he is visiting Pakistan to understand the challenges the country is facing on political, economic and security fronts and how it is meeting them.

"The reasons for my visit this weekend are, first of all, to hear from Pakistan's leaders not just in Islamabad but elsewhere in the country about the political, economic and security challenges that Pakistan faces and how it's going about meeting them," a statement issued by the British High Commission quoted Miliband as saying.

Islamabad, Jan. 9 : Pakistan’s Sports Minister Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani has clarified that new constitutional amendments would not cripple the PCB’s working, rather strengthen the board as an institution and not individuals.

Earlier, several ex-PCB chairmen had criticized the new amendments.

“We want to strengthen the PCB as an institution, not individuals. It will take all decisions of technical and other affairs relating and affecting directly to the game of cricket. And the chairman will appoint the selection committee, coaches, captain, manager and other officials controlling the technical aspects in consultation with the council,” The Daily Times quoted Jakhrani, as saying.

Islamabad, Jan 8 : An Asian rights group has accused Pakistani police of extra judicial killing of a 31-year-old man of a minority community who had refused to pay Eid "bribe" to cops.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Friday wrote to the UN special rapporteur on torture, extra-judicial killings calling for its intervention into the murder of Abid Javed Francis, 31, who was arrested "without charge" and later tortured to death in a police station.

Islamabad, Jan. 8 : Miffed at the constant security checks its officials are facing in Pakistan, the US Embassy in Islamabad has complained that its diplomats are frequently being detained during their visits to different parts of the country.

“The US mission to Pakistan is concerned about the continued provocative actions and false allegations against US personnel working to implement the new partnership between the leaders of Pakistan and the United States,” The News quoted a US spokesman, as saying.

Islamabad, Jan 7 : Good sub-continental ties are vital not only for the economic development of Pakistan and India but also for the entire South Asian region, the outgoing head of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Thursday.

Delivering his farewell address at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tariq Saeed said that though India was emerging as a strong economy, it could never become an economic power without normalising its relations with Pakistan, Online news agency reported.

Islamabad, Jan 7 : Pakistani MPs Thursday urged Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to honour his promise of doubling their development funds from Rs. 10 million to Rs. 20 million failing which they would move a privilege motion against him in the lower house.

The demand was made at a meeting of the National Assembly's standing committee on local bodies and rural development here. Minister of State for Local Bodies and Rural Development Masood Abbas and officials of concerned departments also participated in the

meeting.

Islamabad, Jan 6 : At least 15 people were killed and several more injured in two suspected attacks by US drones in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district Wednesday, a security official said.

Separately, a bomb ripped through an army barracks in the Pakistan-controlled part of the disputed Kashmir region, killing at least three soldiers.

A US pilotless aircraft fired two missiles at a mud compound in the Datta Khel area near Afghan border, said a local intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Islamabad, Jan. 6 : A defence committee of the Pakistani cabinet has taken notice of India’s tactics to disturb the regional balance of power in South Asia, and underscored that Pakistan would never allow its security to be jeopardised.

The committee meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, was held in the wake of recent statements by the Indian army chief declaring that India was ready for a simultaneous war with Pakistan and China.