By Ismail Khan

PESHAWAR, Feb 22: Politics, they say, is the art of the possible and if indications are anything to go by the secular-nationalist Awami National Party may soon find itself getting into an electoral alliance with the right-wing JUI-F.

According to credible sources, talks between the two political parties, which had fought the 2008 elections against each other, are warming up and have entered into some sort of an electoral adjustment in two districts crucial to the ANP — Charsadda and Mardan — while negotiations on similar adjustments in other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are in an advance stage...

By Malik Irfanul Haq

RAHIMYAR KHAN, Feb 22: Vice president of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Malik Muhammad Ishaq, has been detained for one month after he offered his arrest outside his residence on the airport road here on Friday.

The arrest came after DPO Sohail Zafar Chattha negotiated for an hour with Malik Ishaq, who is also a leader of the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) which has claimed responsibility for sectarian attacks in Quetta that have killed nearly 200 people this year...

By Our Reporter

LAHORE, Feb 22: The first Lahore Literary Festival was under way with Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif declaring it open at a ceremony at Alhamra, The Mall, on Friday.

The prelude provided a sampling of what the festival is going to offer. The highlight of the ceremony was the life-time achievements given to three shining lights of literature, Intizar Husain, Bapsi Sidhwa and Zehrah Nigah, who also recited her famous ever-relevant poem that yearns for some kind of order in the country — even if the one the jungle is ruled by. “Suna hai jangalon ka bhi koyee qanoon hota hay (We are told even the jungles are governed by some rules)...

By Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza set up on Friday a six-member committee to discuss with the Election Commission concrete procedures for the upcoming general elections, an official of the assembly secretariat told Dawn.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Law Farooq H. Naek will be convener of the committee which will comprise Navid Qamar of PPP, Moulana Attaur Rehman of JUI-F, Zahid Hamid of PML-N, Bushra Gohar of ANP and independent MNA Zafar Beg Bhittani...

Bureau Report

PESHAWAR, Feb 22: At least 15 people, four of them children, were killed when a bus carrying them to a wedding ceremony fell into a nullah on Friday.

According to police, the bus was going from Budo Samarbagh in the suburbs of Peshawar to Mardan. The driver lost control of the speeding vehicle when it reached near a nullah in the vicinity of northern bypass...

ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the trial court to hear Shahzeb Khan murder case on a daily basis and keep it apprised of the progress.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry issued the order after it heard the case on a suo motu notice taken over the murder in Karachi of 20-year-old Shahzeb Khan and arrest of the prime suspect, Shahrukh Jatoi...

By Our Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Feb 22: A specific alert warning of an attack by a ‘Pakistan-based terrorist group’ was shared by India’s central security agencies with Hyderabad police on Thursday hours before two bombs there killed 16 people and wounded over a hundred, Home Ministry officials were quoted by Press Trust of India as saying on Friday.

Two blasts ripped through a crowded market in Hyderabad on Thursday...

ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: In what can be described as an indictment of global efforts to stamp out terrorism and extremism from the society, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday the efforts were likely to end in failure.

Speaking at the concluding session of the National Conference on Inter-faith Harmony organised by Ministry of National Harmony at the presidency, he said he had been pleading with world leaders that the manner in which the problem was being addressed was wrong...

By Syed Irfan Raza and Khalid Hasnain

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE, Feb 22: The administration of Bahria Town (BT) housing scheme kept mum on Friday despite a damaging clarification from Abu Dhabi Group (ADG) that there was no agreement between them for a $45 billion investment in Pakistan’s housing sector.

A large advertisement published in national dailies on behalf of ADG said the management of BT floated a misleading news item on Feb 15 claiming that BT and ADG had signed an agreement under which the group will invest $45bn in the housing sector and build the world’s tallest building in Karachi...

By Our Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Pakistan on Friday condemned bomb blasts in the Indian city of Hyderabad in which at least 16 people were killed and scores injured, terming them “unjustifiable”.

“All acts of terrorism are unjustifiable regardless of their motivation,” the Foreign Office said in a statement...

By Our Staff Correspondent

QUETTA, Feb 22: Two suspects were killed and four security personnel injured in an exchange of fire between armed men and Frontier Corps personnel in Nawan Killi area on Friday. Four suspects were arrested.

The Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat said the dead — Mohammad Qasim and Abdul Manan — were its workers...

By Our Staff Reporter

KARACHI, Feb 22: A young man was gunned down in an apparent sectarian attack near North Nazimabad on Friday night, bringing the dead toll from day’s violence in the city to nine.

Police said the incident took place near Kati Pahari where unknown suspects on a motorcycle attacked Syed Fayyaz Hussain Zaidi, 24...

By Our Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Feb 22: The US State Department warned Pakistan against any oil deals with Iran and said, “we believe there are better ways and more secure ways and more efficient ways for Pakistan to get its power”.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters: “We’ve made clear to countries around the world, including Pakistan, that we believe it’s in their interest to avoid activities that could be prohibited by UN sanctions or that could be sanctionable under US law.”...