By Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: It was a day of severe setback for Dr Tahirul Qadri. The Supreme Court showed him the door by throwing out his petition seeking reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

However, he narrowly escaped the charges of contempt for his unnecessary and controversial demeanour inside the Courtroom-1 on Wednesday...

By Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: Almost all mainstream political parties and representatives of bar associations will meet here on Thursday at a multi-party conference organised by the Awami National Party to devise a joint strategy to deal with the menace of terrorism.

The deliberations are likely to be dominated by the offer of talks made recently by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan...

By Ismail Khan

PESHAWAR, Feb 13: Facing a legal battle over his eligibility just three days after he took oath as governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shaukatullah Khan vowed on Wednesday to defend his appointment.

Mr Khan, who quit as federal minister and also his seat in the lower house of parliament to become the governor, was immediately caught in a controversy when it was pointed out that under the 18th Amendment a person could become the constitutional head of a province only if he was a registered voter and resident of that province...

By Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: The government is confident of completing the financial and political transition to the next elected government on schedule — between May 15 and June 30 — following initial feedback from Punjab suggesting holding of elections for national and provincial assemblies on the same day.

A senior cabinet member told Dawn that the finance ministry had been asked to go ahead with its pre-determined calendar so that the federal budget could be announced in the first week of June, as the political transition was expected to be completed before May 31...

QUETTA, Feb 13: A man was shot dead here and two brothers killed by kidnappers in Pasni on Wednesday.

Men on a motorbike shot dead Ghulam Sarwar in Gulabad area. Allah Bakhsh and his brother Khuda Bakhsh were kidnapped and killed in Pasni.—Staff Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict on Dr Tahirul Qadri’s petition, a TV channel reported.

Mr Ebrahim said the Election Commission of Pakistan was formed according to the Constitution and the SC decision rejecting Dr Qadri’s petition was expected. Both the court and the ECP want elections on time, he said.—APP

By Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, Feb 13: In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama declared that the US war in Afghanistan would be over by late 2014 but vowed to continue direct strikes on militant hideouts.

“We will continue to take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat to Americans,” he said...

By Syed Irfan Raza

ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: Punjab’s forensic experts issued their report on Wednesday on the Jan 18 death of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigator Kamran Faisal.

According to the report, there were no signs of torture on the body and he had not taken any poison before hanging himself from the ceiling fan of his room in Federal Lodges...

By Our Staff Reporter

KARACHI, Feb 13: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has told Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain that the government will resolve the issue of caretaker set-up after consultations with the opposition and allied parties.

According to a statement released in London by the MQM on Wednesday, the prime minister called Mr Hussain and discussed with him the issue of formation of the caretaker government and law and order and overall political situation in the country...

WASHINGTON, Feb 13: The former US ambassador to Pakistan on Wednesday criticised Washington’s “callousness” over the killing of Pakistani troops as he called for both countries to rethink how they see each other.

Cameron Munter served as ambassador during some of the most difficult times of the turbulent US-Pakistan relationship, including the slaying of Osama bin Laden and a US border raid that killed 24 Pakistani troops in November 2011...

RAWALPINDI, Feb 13: The Lahore High Court directed an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday to complete the Benazir Bhutto murder case trial in three months.

The Rawalpindi bench of LHC comprising Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Ali Baqir Najafi asked the ATC to conduct day-to-day proceedings and submit a report of its verdict to the LHC registrar office in three months...

By Our Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Feb 13: The European Union has expressed regret over the hanging of the Indian parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and asked India to put a moratorium on executions, a statement said on Wednesday.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said it was with `regret’ that she learned of the execution of Afzal Guru last Saturday...

Dawn Report

LAHORE / KARACHI, Feb 13: Poetry lovers and film buffs were saddened to know on Wednesday afternoon that legendary Indian poet and filmmaker Gulzar had returned home from Lahore without going to Karachi where he was supposed to take part in the Karachi Literature Festival.

According to sources close to him, Gulzar visited his place of birth, Deena near Jhelum, after 70 years. He went to the school where he had gone as a child. Then he visited his ancestral house and was so overwhelmed by emotions that he broke into tears...

By Saleem Shahid

QUETTA, Feb 13: Eight members of a family were killed and another was injured late on Wednesday in a car-truck collision near Kuchlak town, some 25km from here, police sources said.

Abdul Salam, a resident of Quetta’s Satellite Town, rented a car to travel to Chaman along with his family to attend a wedding ceremony in the border town...

Dawn Report

KARACHI, Feb 13: Sindh took the lead among provinces in making education free and compulsory in compliance with Article 25A of the 1973 Constitution when on Wednesday the provincial assembly unanimously adopted a bill entitled “Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education”.

The Article 25A reads: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.”...

By Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD, Feb 13: Most of the mainstream political parties have welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to throw out the petition of Dr Tahirul Qadri that sought reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The opposition PML-N, which had been opposing Dr Qadri’s demand for dissolution of the ECP and a raft of electoral reforms, described the court’s decision as a major development in the country’s judicial history...