Army officers in hotline contact to ease tension

ISLAMABAD: After a demonstration by a mob outside the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Wednesday over the killing of Indian soldiers along the Line of Control, the Foreign Office asked India to beef up security of Pakistani diplomats and high commission staff.

Indian Deputy High Commissioner Gopal Baglay was summoned to the Foreign Office and asked to convey to the Indian government that Pakistan expected it to meet its responsibility of protecting Pakistani diplomats and allied staff posted there.

LoC attack: PM Nawaz summons emergency session

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif has summoned an emergency meeting with the foreign ministry and other high-ranked security officials over the Indian attack on the Pakistani soldiers at the Line of Control (LoC) Thursday, Geo News reported.

According to the sources, the meeting will review the strained situation that has emerged between Pakistan and India along with the Indian allegations after the LoC attack.

Mobile phone services to be suspended for Yaum-e-Ali

ISLAMABAD: Mobile phone services would remain suspended in most cities of the country on Wednesday as part of security arrangements for Yaum-e-Ali being observed today, DawnNews reported.

Mobile phone services would remain blocked in Karachi from six am till 8pm whereas the services would remain suspended till 6 pm in certain areas of Lahore.

Pakistan bans website on 'liberal' Islam

By NEHA PUSHKARNA

Selling new-age Islam to Pakistan is a daunting task. For Sultan Shahin, who runs a liberal-view website with the same name, it proved to be futile.

Shahin's newageislam.com - a Delhi-based online resource on Islam - has been banned in Pakistan for being 'too liberal' as well as critical of the contemporary interpretation of the 1,400-year-old religion.

Shahin's multilingual website, started in 2008, was banned in Pakistan on June 30 this year. According to him, it was done on the directions of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority following the website's tirade against Talibani writings.

Two girls, mother killed over family video

GILGIT: A family video showing two teenage girls enjoying rain in their house led to their murder in Chilas on Sunday night. Their mother was also gunned down allegedly by her stepson and his four friends.

Five masked men barged into the house of retired police officer Rehmat Nabi and started firing, killing his wife and daughters, aged 15 and 16.

According to police, the crime was motivated by a video clip circulated on mobile phones and showing the girls overjoyed by rain in the lawn of their bungalow.

Pakistan should hold talks with Taliban: Fazl

ISLAMABAD: Welcoming the initiation of Doha peace process, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday reiterated his desire that the Pakistan government should also hold talks with Taliban to bring peace and stability in the region.

“The use of force does not work all the time and in all situations,” said the JUI-F chief while talking to a group of reporters after his meeting with a delegation headed by the Special Representative of United Nations (UN) Secretary General on Afghanistan Jan Kubis.

PTI, MQM lawmakers extend support to Musharraf: Aide

LAHORE: Lawmakers belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) approached the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) and assured their extensive support for party head Pervez Musharraf — to be extended at the “right time.”

Details of the meeting were disclosed by political advisor and close aide of Musharraf, Chaudhry Sarfraz Anjum Kahlon.

Kahlon said that several senior lawmakers including representatives of PTI and MQM had privately conveyed their dismay over Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s stance on Musharraf and had provided assurances of extensive support for Musharraf.

Seven killed, 12 injured in Karachi blast

KARACHI: Seven people were killed and 12 others sustained injuries in a bomb explosion at Burns Road, Karachi, Express News reported on Wednesday.

Police said Sindh High Court Justice Baqar Maqbool’s convoy was the target of the attackers. They added that explosive material was planted on a motorbike.

Police and rescue personnel have reached the area and injured – including Justice Maqbool – have been shifted to nearby hospitals. The affected area has been sealed for initial investigation.

Naya Pakistan?: PTI MNA calls for Mumtaz Qadri's release

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA called for the release of Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the man who gunned down Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer in 2011.

PTI MNA from Mardan, Mujahid Ali Khan made the demand during a debate on the budget in the National Assembly.

Khan had won the NA-11 seat in the May 11 elections.

Tauqir Sadiq voluntarily surrenders

Former chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) Tauqir Sadiq – the principal accused in a multibillion-dollar scandal – is expected to return to Pakistan shortly after he voluntarily surrendered himself, documents available with The Express Tribune revealed.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials said that a special team will leave for Abu Dhabi soon to bring the former Ogra chairman back after completing the legal formalities. The development comes after an Abu Dhabi court ordered deportation of Tauqir Sadiq on June 3.

Army to stay in Waziristan till peace restored: Kayani

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Pakistan Army will stay in Waziristan till complete peace is restored, said Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani on Thursday.

According to a Radio Pakistan report, Kayani said “the army is engaged in the area to bring peace and provide protection to the people so that they could live peacefully.”

Kayani was speaking during the inauguration ceremony of 50-kilometre-long road from Wana to Angoor Aadda.

India to take up with Pak financial aid to JuD: Khurshid

India today said it will take up with Islamabad the allocation of over Rs 61 million in Pakistan's Punjab province budget to a centre of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the parent body of terror group LeT that had carried out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

"I can't comment on what the state government in Pakistan is doing. Whatever comes to our knowledge and is a concern for our security will be taken up with Pakistan federal government," External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.

Ahmadi man killed ‘because of his faith’

LAHORE:A member of the Jamaat-i-Ahmadia was shot dead in Green Town, allegedly because of his faith.

Four armed teenagers entered Jawad Karim’s house on Monday and shot him dead. They then walked away from the scene, said Imtiaz Adnan, Karim’s brother and a witness to the incident.

Hafeez Saeed group gets 61 mn from govt

The government of Pakistan's Punjab province has allocated millions of rupees in its budget for fiscal 2013-14 for the largest centre of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, considered a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Besides a grant-in-aid of over Rs. 61 million for the JuD centre known as

'Markaz-e-Taiba', the provincial government has allocated Rs. 350 million for setting up a "Knowledge Park" at the centre and other development initiatives.

Details of the allocations were presented in budget documents tabled in the Punjab assembly on Monday by the PML-N government led by chief minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Nawaz, Fahim file nomination papers for PM election

ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif, whose nomination papers for the prime minister's election were submitted today, is set to become prime minister for the third time after his party secured simple majority in the newly-elected National Assembly.

The nomination was submitted by Ishaq Dar, Tariq Fazal, Khawaja Asif and Abdul Qadir Baloch on Sharif's behalf.

Moreover, Amin Fahim, who also submitted his nomination papers is the Pakistan Peoples Party's candidate for premiership.

Two arrested after their vehicle hit a Pakistani envoy's car

New Delhi: The Delhi Police have arrested a woman and her nephew, who were travelling on the two-wheeler that hit a Pakistani envoy's car on Monday. Both have been accused of rash and negligent driving, among other charges.

The action came after Pakistan issued a strong statement seeking a thorough probe into the incident. Trouble began after Pakistan's First Secretary Zirgham Raza's car hit a woman and her nephew on a two-wheeler and an argument broke out.

Presidential elections: President Zardari will not seek another term

KARACHI: After the poor showing of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the May 11 parliamentary elections, President Asif Ali Zardari says he will not seek another term in office.

Asif Zardari was elected to the Presidency on September 6, 2008 and his five-year constitutional term expires in September 2013.