Islamabad, Sept 11 : Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani has categorically said that no external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan and that his country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity would be defended at all costs.

Kayani said that the US forces should show patience and desist from unilateral strikes on Pakistani soil, else it may prove “counter-productive”.

Islamabad, Sept 11 : The Pakistan Government on Wednesday evening formally accepted the resignation of the five PML-N ministers who had resigned nearly two months ago in protest against the PPP-led Government’s dillydallying tactics in restoring the deposed Supreme Court judges.

Though the acceptance of resignation of PML-N ministers was pending for nearly two months, the Government okayed it within three days of the new President Asif Ali Zardari assuming the Presidency.

Lahore, Sept 11: In a fresh spate of killings in Pakistan, at least 25 civilians were killed and 50 injured in a grenade-and-gun attack in a mosque in the Maskanai area of lower Dir, and Pakistani security forces claimed to have gunned down at least 30 Taliban militants in the Bajaur tribal agency.

According to the Daily Times, unidentified militants threw hand grenades in the Sunni mosque in Banai village situated less than three km from the Afghan border during Taravih prayers and fired at the worshippers.

Islamabad,

Karachi - The family of a Pakistani scientist in US custody fears she may die before her next hearing on September 22 in New York if urgent medical attention is not provided.

Aafia Siddiqui, 36, a US-educated neuroscientist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was extradited from Afghanistan after she allegedly seized a rifle from a US Army officer and tried to fire it at the interrogators who arrived in Ghazni, Afghanistan in July to question her about possible terror links.

In the exchange of fire, she was shot in the chest and feet.

Islamabad, Sept 10 : Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that a joint ‘jirga’ between Pakistan and Afghanistan will be held soon after Eid, ostensibly to resolve the issues relating to the Pak-Afghan border area.

Afghanistan has time and again accused Pakistan of fanning terrorism into Afghanistan from across the border.

“Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to initiate the Jirga process and hopefully a joint Jirga will take place in Islamabad immediately after Eid,” he said.