Islamabad  - A firebrand Muslim cleric in Pakistan's volatile Swat valley Sunday warned authorities of protests if the government failed to set up Islamic courts in the region by mid-March.

Sufi Mohammad set the deadline two weeks after signing a deal with the regional government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), trading off an end to militancy for enforcement of sharia laws in Malakand division, of which Swat is a district.

Islamabad, Mar. 1 : Attacking former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his verbal accusations against President Asif Ali Zardari and making calls for civil disobedience, Pakistan's Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said the remarks suggest disloyalty towards the country.

"The words uttered by Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Nawaz Sharif fall well within the ambit of treason," The News quoted Mukhtar, as saying.

Islamabad, Mar. 1 : In a bid to assuage the international community's concerns about developments in Pakistan, the government of Pakistan has said that it had nothing to do with the disqualification of the Sharif brothers'.

Foreign envoys of different countries have been briefed about political developments in the country.

This was the first ever incidence in the history of Pakistan when foreign ambassadors where briefed about the political scenario of the country.

Islamabad, Feb. 28 : Pakistan's Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar has said that PPP parliamentarians from Punjab have unanimously decided to install a PPP Chief Minister in Punjab, and authorized party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to nominate a candidate for the slot.

The decision came on Friday during a meeting of PPP Punjab MNAs, MPAs, and senators, co-chaired by President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to discuss the Punjab situation, the Daily Time report.

Islamabad, Feb. 28 : Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief , Nawaz Sharif has refuted making calls for a civil disobedience movement in the country, after he and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, were disqualified from contesting elections by a Supreme Court verdict.

"I have not called for civil disobedience and no decision has yet been made on this," Sharif told BBC Urdu.

"I have merely said that the administration, the police should not follow any extralegal orders," he added.

Islamabad, Feb. 28 : Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has appointed 16 Additional Judges to the Lahore High Court, all of whom are alleged to be from his "own political cadre."

Speaking about the new appointments, a High Court source said Zardari should not have appointed all the people from his own political cadre by ignoring other sections of the bars altogether. The government could have made better choices.