Washington, Sept.18: The increasing challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's grip on power are forcing the United States to explore an alternative course to keep its crucial ally on board in the "war against terror," former State Department officials and Pakistan experts in the US say.

Experts say that there is a sense in Washington that Pakistan is going through a period of political transition and that President General Musharraf needs greater popular legitimacy in order to muster grassroots support for the US counter-terrorism agenda.

Lahore, Sep 18 (ANI): Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said that the return of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to Pakistan would bring political stability to the country.

"We would welcome Bhutto on her return to the country," Kasuri told reporters on the sidelines of an exhibition organised at the French Embassy in Islamabad to celebrate the completion of 60 years of Pakistan-France friendship.

Kasuri said the government wanted to take along all parties for a national consensus on key issues.

Lahore, Sep 18: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has said that the Musharraf regime would not deport her on her return to Pakistan, and added that it might put her in jail or let her go free.

Bhutto hoped that she would get a warm welcome at Karachi Airport.

"I trust that my brothers and sisters that they would come to receive me on the airport because I have long been struggling for their rights," she told CNBC TV.

Mumbai/Delhi: Pakistan on Monday formally dissented to India decision to open Siachen glacier and Saltoro ridge to trekkers.

Islamabad, Sept.17: Air Chief Marshal Tanveer Mehmood Ahmed has said that more than 300 aircrafts, some missiles and an early warning system will be acquired by the Pakistan Air Force at the cost around nine billion dollars to modernize it.
 
In an interview with a private TV channel, Tanveer Mehmood Ahmed said that Pakistan Air Force has planned to modernize its fleet by replacement of aging aircraft and acquisition more than three hundred multi-roll combat aircraft including American F-16s and Chinese J.F-17 thunder and J-tens over the next few years.

Islamabad, Sep 17: Major General (retired) Abdul Majeed Malik, a senior vice president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), has resigned to register his protest against President Pervez Musharraf’s bid to get himself re-elected for another five years.

“I am not in a position to prevent the party leadership from supporting the re-election of a president in uniform,” the Daily Times quoted him, as saying.

Major General (retired) Malik has submitted his resignation to PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Secretary General Mushahid Hussain.