Islamabad, Apr. 20: Former Pakistan President General (r) Pervez Musharraf has said that the United States should not attach any preconditions to its anti-terror aid to Pakistan.

The Daily Times quoted Musharraf, as saying that the armed forces and the Pakistan Government should jointly devise a strategy to fight terrorists in the country.

Speaking on the Swat peace deal with the Taliban, he said the deal would be good for the country only if it brought peace and justice, but it could not be supported if it infringed the sovereignty of the state.

Karachi, Apr. 20 : Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has rejected the sharia-deal between the Pakistan Government's and the Taliban.

The Daily Times quoted Hussain, as saying that the Taliban's Sharia law was based on violence, and urged people to unite against the menace of Talibansation.

Hussain also condemned a statement by Pak-Taliban chief Sufi Muhammad, that high courts and the Supreme Court are un-Islamic.

Melbourne, Apr 20 : Australia’s captain for the Dubai series, Michael Clarke, has said that his team’s main focus will be on improving their batting during the one-day international series against Pakistan.

Clarke leads a squad without regular captain Ricky Ponting, strike bowler Mitchell Johnson and middle order batsman Mike Hussey, all being rested ahead of the Twenty20 world championship and Ashes campaign.

The Australian squad assembled in Dubai ahead of the tour-opener on Wednesday with Clarke predicting that Pakistan will prove a difficult opponent in their first ODI clashes in more than four years.

Landikotal, Apr. 20 : The Jamaat-e-Islami has threatened to disrupt supplies to the NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan, if the United States continues with drone attacks in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas.

The warning was issued at a JeI public meeting, during which the participants took out a rally against drone strikes, the military operation in FATA, and the country’s cooperation with the US in its war on terror.

JeI’s FATA Deputy Secretary General Zarnoor Afridi argued that drone attacks in the FATA were violation of the Geneva Convention and basic human rights of the Tribal Area inhabitants, the Daily Times reports.

Islamabad, Apr. 20 : At least twenty militants were reportedly killed in an offensive launched by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in the Orakzai region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan military officials have claimed.

According to the Dawn, PAF jets and helicopter gunships launched an attack targeting a close aide of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud, who had claimed the responsibility for a suicide car-bomb attack on a security convoy in which 25 security personnel were killed near Kohat town of the agency.

Islamabad, Apr. 20 : The Pakistan Government has decided to track down and combat the ‘Bad Taliban,’ which is held responsible for targeting law-enforcement agencies in the NWFP and FATA.

According to The Nation, the recent increase in of suicide bombings targeting the NWFP police has forced the government to start a hunt operation against the anti-state ‘Bad Taliban’.

Recently, two consecutive suicide-bombing attacks at Charsadda and Hangu District have killed three dozen police personnel.