By Bakhtawar Mian

ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: Two weeks after the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) made a conditional offer for talks, the country’s major political parties went into a huddle and later announced that they had all agreed to pursue peace through dialogue.

The participants of the day-long conference organised by the Awami National Party (ANP) on Thursday, claimed to have reached a consensus on the need for dialogue with the militants, but failed to come out with any plan to achieve the lofty aim...

Dawn Report

KOHAT/BANNU/KALAYA/KARAK, Feb 14: Twenty-one people, including security personnel and militants, were killed and several others injured in suicide attacks on police posts in southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and roadside explosions in Orakzai Agency on Thursday.

Eleven people, including three FC personnel, two policemen and one Levies man, were killed as a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a security post in the volatile Hangu district...

By Iftikhar A. Khan

ISLAMABAD: The army top brass met on Thursday at the General Headquarters with Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in the chair and reviewed the Afghan situation with specific reference to the ongoing peace process.

The meeting, attended by all corps commanders and principal staff officers, also discussed matters relating to internal security...

By Peerzada Salman

KARACHI, Feb 14: Despite an unexpected pull-out of distinguished Indian poet and filmmaker Gulzar, the three-day fourth Karachi Literature Festival beginning at the Beach Luxury Hotel on Friday promises a lot for the country’s book lovers and art buffs.

Like the previous three editions of the festival, this year too intellectually stimulating sessions with a galaxy of internationally renowned writers, authors and performing artistes are in store...

By Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: A day after rejecting Dr Tahirul Qadri’s petition on the basis of his dual nationality, the Supreme Court handed out on Thursday a set of proposals for ensuring voting rights to overseas Pakistanis in the coming general election.

The court noted that the task appeared to be arduous, but it suggested an immediate meeting between the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Ministries of Interior and Overseas Pakistanis to devise a mechanism for the purpose and wanted the outcome to be submitted by Feb 22...

KARACHI, Feb 14: Realising the dismay that his early return to India from Lahore would have caused to his admirers in Pakistan, Indian poet and filmmaker Gulzar on Thursday wrote a letter to the founder and organiser of the Karachi Literature Festival, Ameena Saiyid.

True to his poetic inclinations, he titled the letter “Mujh Se Naraz Na Hon (Don’t be cross with me)”...

WASHINGTON, Feb 14: The United States is seeking Pakistan’s support to secure Afghanistan as it prepares to pull out from the war-ravaged country by the end of next year, says the State Department.

The issue came up when the new US Secretary of State John Kerry called President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday to show his interest in continuing close ties with a key ally which shares a long and often troubled border with Afghanistan...

By Our Staff Reporter

KARACHI, Feb 14: The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi is working to make sure that five Pakistani crew members of a Panama-flagged ship, which was detained at an Indian port for safety reasons, return home as soon as possible, officials said.

The ship was detained at India’s Visakhapatnam port over five months ago, they said...

By Our Staff Reporter

LAHORE, Feb 14: The government has begun the process for lodging a high treason case against former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, Deputy Attorney General Iftikhar Shahid told the Lahore High Court on Thursday.

Being authorised to register a high treason case, the interior secretary had been appointed as complaint officer, he said during the hearing of a petition seeking registration of the case against the former dictator for subverting the Constitution twice and ousting an elected government...

Bureau Report

PESHAWAR, Feb 14: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shaukatullah Khan is a registered voter in Nawagai area of Bajaur tribal region, background checks on his status through the Election Commission of Pakistan voter database system has revealed.

The verification done through SMS by sending Shaukatullah Khan’s CNIC number revealed that the governor was a registered voter in his native Nawagai area of Bajaur tribal region...

By Ikram Junaidi

ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: A car driven by an official of the United States Embassy met with an accident on Thursday night in which two men on a motorbike were injured on the Margalla Road.

One of the injured, Muzammil Shah, later died in hospital during an operation...

By Mohammad Asghar

RAWALPINDI, Feb 14: A commando of the Elite Force died in a shootout with outlaws near the Holy Family Hospital on Thursday night. One of the outlaws was also killed.

The shootout followed a raid by the Elite Force on a house in Feroz Lane...

By Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON, Feb 14: Most Pakistanis have lost faith in their US-allied government and instead trust the military, says a Gallup survey released on Thursday.

Ninety-two per cent of Pakistanis disapprove of US leadership and 55pc of them fear greater interaction between Muslim and western societies could be harmful...

By Our Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Feb 14: India and France concluded on Thursday negotiations on a deal expected to be worth around Rs300,000 million for co-developing a short-range air defence system even as visiting French President Francois Hollande made a fresh push for the sale of Rafale fighter jets to India.

“Both sides noted the ongoing progress of negotiations on the Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) programme and look forward to their conclusion... steps are being taken for finalisation of the short-range surface to air missile (SR-SAM) project,” India and France said in a joint statement...