The authorities in Pakistan have expressed concern over delays in removing non-tariff barriers by India, ahead of an important ministerial meeting in the coming week.

The Indian government officials have responded by saying that the delay is only due to procedural reason and the other side's concerns will be addressed. India's Commerce minister Anand Sharma is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, in Islamabad next week.

The governments of India and Pakistan have given their in-principle approval on having a uniform transit fee for wheeling gas from Turkmenistan.

The gas is to flow through the proposed $7.6-billion pipeline. The agreement for the plan is different from other transit proposals involving the two south Asian neighbors. The disagreements on transit fee as well as the prices of the fuel have stalled progress on other similar projects.

Lahore, Jan 5 : Convicted Indian spy Sarabjeet Singh's lawyer Awais Sheikh has said that he anticipates his client's release in the wake of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari paying attention to the fresh mercy petition.

"This time, there are bright prospects of Sarabjeet Singh's release," The Express Tribune quoted Sheikh, as saying.

According to the latest reports, a map on the official website of the US Department of State shows the disputed Pakistan-administered Kashmir region as a part of Pakistan.

The map on the website does not include any note about the status of the region being disputed, as it is also claimed by India. The showing of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of Pakistan could spurt into a diplomatic row between India and the United Sates, which claim to share a close strategic partnership.

The Indian government has hinted its readiness to work with its neighbor, Pakistan under the framework of the South Asian Preferential Trading Agreement, SAFTA for preferential trading agreements.

Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said ahead of holding talks with his Pakistani counterpart Zafar Mahmood that the two countries will achieve clarity on the matter through talks and expressed hope that the arrangements will be in place at the soonest. The Commerce Secretaries of the two countries are meeting in the Indian capital for the sixth round of talks.

Islamabad, Nov 1 : Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said he could consider forming an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League (N) if its leader Nawaz Sharif declares his assets.

Although he insisted that the top leadership of the party should declare their assets, Khan said that PTI could consider forming an alliance even if Sharif alone declared his actual assets, The Nation reports.

Islamabad, Oct 18 : Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that his country will recognize the new government in Libya.

The Express Tribune quoted Gilani as saying that Pakistan believes in the sovereignty and independence of all countries, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of any country.

Quetta, Oct 15(ANI): Balochistan minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri has escaped an attempt on his life near Surab in Kalat district.

Sardar Zehri, who is provincial convener of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and chief of Jhalawan, was reportedly going to Anjira after addressing public meetings in Surab and Gidar when a bomb attack took place.

“The bomb was detonated by remote control when the convoy was about 10km from Surab,” the Dawn quoted sources, as saying.

Lahore, Oct 12 : Pakistan has no objection to granting the most favoured nation (MFN) status to India, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said, according to a news report. “We will definitely carry it on. However, we want to proceed step by step,” the Dawn quoted Fahim, as telling reporters after inaugurating an exhibition of carpets.

He said that technical details would be finalised at a meeting of the commerce secretaries of the two countries to be held in New Delhi next month.

Islamabad, Oct 10 : Afghanistan’s top diplomat in Pakistan has said members of a commission investigating last month’s assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, will visit Islamabad within a ‘few days’ to seek Pakistan’s help in the investigations.

Islamabad, Oct 9 : Unknown armed men torched two oil tankers in Bolan district of Balochistan province in Southwest Pakistan.

Police said that the Afghanistan-bound tankers were coming from Karachi when armed men riding a motorbike intercepted them and set them ablaze.

No one was hurt in the attack but no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Xinhua reports.

Suspected militants routinely target NATO supplies trucks and oil tankers mostly in northwest Pakistan.

Islamabad, Oct 10 : US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman has urged Pakistan, Afghanistan to work together with the United States in the fight against terrorism.

Grossman said that the number of Pakistani civilians who have been killed in terrorist attacks was, as 19,000 of them have died since 2003, The Daily Times reports.

Lahore, Oct 8 : Religious and religio-political parties have held rallies across Pakistan to protest against the death sentence awarded to Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the self-confessed assassin of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, and to press the government for his early release.

Islamabad, Oct 7 : Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the self-confessed assassin of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, has filed an appeal against the death penalty awarded to him by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Pakistan.

Islamabad, Oct 7 : A Pakistani doctor accused of running a phoney vaccination programme for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to help track down Osama bin Laden, should be put on trial for high treason, an inquiry commission set up by the Pakistan Government has said.

Peshawar, Oct 6 : Maulana Fazlullah-led militants have agreed to negotiate with the Pakistan Government on the condition that it ensures the implementation of ‘true Shariah’ in the country’s Malakand division.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had said recently that his administration was ready to hold negotiations with all militant groups in the tribal belt along the Afghan border.

Bahawalpur (Pakistan), Oct 5 : The ‘Zardari Network’ is more dangerous for Pakistan than the Haqqani network, as the Zardari-led government is bent upon destroying the institutions of the country, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said.

Sharif made these comments while talking to reporters in Bahawalpur after condoling the death of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) MPA Mumtaz Jajja, who died of dengue fever recently, The News reports.

Islamabad, Oct 5 : A senior Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader has said that talks with the government in Islamabad cannot succeed until US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had said recently that his administration was ready to hold negotiations with all militant groups in the tribal belt along the Afghan border.

Islamabad, Oct 5 : Pakistan has rejected news reports that it has refused to help Afghan investigators probing the assassination of High Peace Council leader Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Former Afghan President Rabbani, who had been tasked with trying to negotiate a political end to the war in Afghanistan, was killed on September 20 by a suicide bomber who was supposedly a peace emissary sent by the Taliban leadership.

Islamabad, Oct 4 : Pakistan Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has formally invited Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan, reviving hopes that both nations would fully exploit the potential of economic and business ties.

Fahim extended the invitation during a meeting with Dr Singh in New Delhi at the end of his visit, the Dawn quoted a statement issued by the Commerce Ministry in Islamabad, as saying.