Lahore, Mar. 13 : The ongoing political uncertainty, the lawyer's Long March and the attack on Lankan cricketers has affected business activity in Lahore, which has seen an 80 percent decline in recent days.

Beyond Lahore, the situations more or less similar in rest of the province, where the imposition of Section 144 has made people hesitant about going out for shopping or conducting other activities, the Daily Times reports.

Islamabad, Mar. 13 : Rejecting concerns of the international community, Pakistan has declared that its nuclear assets are safe as an elaborate command-and-control system was in place to safeguard the strategic arsenal.

"Our command-and-control system is very effective, and we do not need foreign assistance to protect and safeguard our strategic assets," the Daily Times quoted Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit, as saying.

Basit claimed that the international community had praised Pakistan's multi-layered security system.

Peshawar, Mar 13: Not only are common people going to seek the Taliban's help against powerful elements in their respective areas, but Pakistani lawmakers are also now threatening their colleagues in the NWFP Assembly by letting the Taliban loose on them to settle personal scores.

Many attending Thursday's session of the assembly were stunned when they heard a lawmaker warning a provincial minister of calling the Taliban, if he (minister) continued interfering in postings and transfers in his constituency.

Islamabad, Mar. 13: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has accepted at least two PML-N demands, “and modalities are being finalised to launch the reconciliation process”, Awami National Party (ANP) Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan claimed on Thursday.

Zardari, however, refused to give a timeframe for fulfilling the demands; Khan was quoted by the Daily Times, as saying.

Khan, who is playing a major role in trying to settle differences between the government and the PML-N, said he condemned the Governor’s rule in Punjab, as people’s mandate should have been respected.

Islamabad, Mar 13: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani wants to defuse the ongoing political crisis in Pakistan by undoing “all the wrongs” to mark his place in the history of the country.

Gilani privately told a group of senators that he wanted to “decisively deliver” in the present crisis even if he might have to lose his coveted post, sources said.

Islamabad  - Pakistani authorities Friday impeded a cross-country rally by blocking a protest convoy from travelling to the capital city Islamabad to join a planned sit-in against the faltering year-old government.

Police stopped Ali Ahmed Kurd, a key leader of protesting lawyers, and scores of his supporters early Friday from entering the southern Sindh province from where the group planned to travel to the eastern town of Lahore before marching on the capital.