Islamabad - The chief of Pakistan's Air Force said on Tuesday his forces were fully capable of shooting down the pilotless US aircraft that have carried out more than 20 strikes on militants hideouts in country's tribal region over the last two months.

"As far as the capacity of the air force is concerned, it is ready for any type of air defence whether it is drone" or any other sort of aerial combat system, Air Martial Tanvir Mahmood Ahmad told reporters in southern port city of Karachi.

Islamabad, Nov 25 : The Chairman of the Pakistan Senate Defence Committee, Senator Nisar A. Memon, has strongly criticized the presence of Indian troops in Afghanistan.

“We have conveyed our reservations to the respective countries and have demanded end to this un-mandated presence,” The Pakistan Post quoted Memon, as saying.

He was talking to reporters on his arrival from a week-long visit to the UK and Brussels.

Islamabad, Nov 25 : Rashid Rauf, the British terror suspect who Pakistan intelligence sleuths claimed died in an air raid in Pakistan’s tribal areas last week, was not killed in the attack, claims his family.

Their claim is based on the fact that his dead body has not been handed over to them yet, and that the concerned authorities were also not responding to their questions.

Speaking through Rauf''s lawyer Hashmat Malik, the family of Rauf''s wife (in Pakistan) said that he was not killed in the attack. “It''s all a concocted story. We''re sure that it is not Rashid Rauf,” The Guardian quoted the lawyer as saying.

Islamabad, Nov 25 : International relief organization Oxfam and its allies of the “We Can Campaign” have reportedly planned 1000 events across Pakistan at district level to mark the ‘International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women’.

Spread over 127 days from November 25, 2008, the 1000 events will include seminars, rallies, fun fairs, interactive dialogues and meetings with community members, theatrical performances, debates in educational institutions and much more, reported the Daily Times.

The events would take place in districts where the incidence of gender-based violence is high, added the paper.

Islamabad, Nov 25: A senior security official in Pakistan has reportedly contradicted the country’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s statement that the political wing of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had been closed.

On Sunday Qureshi had told reporters in Multan that the ISI political wing had been disbanded, saying: “The ISI is a precious national institution and wants to focus on counter-terrorism activities.”

Islamabad  - At least 23 people, including 20 militants, were killed in overnight attacks by Islamist insurgents amid security operations by government forces in north-west Pakistan, officials and media reports said Monday.

Helicopter gunships and artillery pounded several positions of militants in the restive Swat district, where troops are fighting followers of radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who wants to enforce Taliban-style rule in the region.

"According to preliminary information, more than 15 insurgents have died and half a dozen sustained injuries in the security action," a local military official said.