Islamabad, Mar 24 : Pakistan's chief selector Abdul Qadir has said that pacer Shoaib Akhtar can return to Pakistan duty if he proves his fitness over the next few days.

He said the selectors have been keeping an eye on Akhtar's performance to decide whether he can be brought back into the team for the one-dayers against Australia.

Qadir pointed out that Shoaib recently gave a good showing in a one-day game, which he said was a good sign.

Karachi, Mar 24 : Pakistan is likely to name its 15-man squad for the one-day series against Australia after the conclusion of the National One-day Championship on April 1.

Coach Intikhab Alam said that after mutual consent it has been more or less decided that the selectors will wait till the end of the domestic one-day tournament before naming the squad for the ODI series to be played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from April 22-May 7.

Pakistan will play five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 game against Australia, The Dawn reported.

Lahore, Mar. 23: Civil society and human rights activists have condemned the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has ordered all non-government organizations working in the Swat area to leave.

The TTP, which said NGOs were just another name for obscenity and vulgarity, had earlier banned district courts in Swat, leaving 500 lawyers unemployed in Swat.

The civil society and human rights activists slammed the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi chief Sufi Muhammad, whose order they claimed proved that the TTP did not want the locals to prosper or be able to voice their needs.

Islamabad, Mar. 23: Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz will work jointly at the Centre and in Punjab for the welfare of the masses.

Mukhtar claimed that Chaudhry brothers of the PML-Q were trying hard to create differences between the PPP and the PML-N, but their dreams of coming into power had vanished.

“Politics based on horse trading and blackmail has no future in Pakistan,” the Daily Times quoted him, as saying.

Peshawar, Mar. 23: Following the Pakistan Government’s decision to introduce Sharia-law in Malakand Division, Islamic parties are now demanding implementation of the Swat-like system in other districts of the province and tribal areas.

The NWFP government had agreed upon a deal with Taliban, according to which, the people of Malakand Division would be meted out justice in accordance with Sharia law.

Lahore, Mar 24: Shoaib Akhtar is hopeful the Indian Premier League (IPL)’s impending move to South Africa or England could pave the way for Pakistani players to return to the lucrative Twenty20 tournament.

In an interview to a cricket website, Shoaib said he and his Pakistani counterparts were holding out hope of an eleventh-hour call-up to the IPL, now that the tournament seems destined to be shifted out of India.