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 : Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's nine foreign visits since September 2008 have cost a whopping 157.257 million rupees to the national exchequer, the National Assembly (NA) was told.

The expenditures included special remittances and daily allowances of the 246 staff, chartered flight charges and gifts to the visited countries, the Daily Times reports.

Since he became President, Zardari has visited the UK, the US, the UAE, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Rawalpindi, Mar 13 : PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has asked Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to play his role and convince President Asif Ali Zardari to defuse the prevailing tension by restoring the pre-November 3 judiciary.

Sharif said that if the Prime Minister wished, he could restore the pre-November 3 judiciary, Geo News reported.

"The nation and the opposition would support the Prime Minister whatever steps he takes for restoration of the judges," he said, adding that now its time that Gilani should play his role.

Washington, Mar 13: The US in still not willing to support a demand for the restoration of sacked judges, despite a change of government in Washington and, seems eager not to criticise the Zardari Government for its crackdown on opposition activists. It also wants to appear neutral in the Zardari-Sharif imbroglio.

On Thursday, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke conveyed Washington's concerns to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Holbrooke offered his views and advice to ease the mounting political tension in Pakistan.

London, Mar. 12: Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif has accused the Zardari regime of plotting to assassinate him.

In an interview with The Guardian, Sharif blamed President Asif Ali Zardari of running an ‘elected dictatorship’.

“I have recently received certain information from own sources, about certain forces who are active against me. Threats to my life come from high-ranking government officials, certain topmost people in the government, my sources say,” Sharif said.

Islamabad  - Fears are growing that the Pakistani opposition's planned march on Islamabad this week might throw the nuclear-armed country into chaos and put the political future of pro-Western President Asif Ali Zardari at risk.

The political confrontation could also drive Pakistan away from its fight against extremism and efforts to overcome its economic crisis, two prime concerns Western governments want the Islamic country to focus upon.