Islamabad, Apr. 13: Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar who was once kept under house arrest in Bahawalpur in Pakistan has been mysteriously and `officially' declared missing from the country, The Daily Times reports.

Pakistani authorities had placed restrictions on the movement of Azhar, by confining him to his multi-storied concrete compound in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur.

Islamabad - Pakistani security forces repelled overnight militant attacks on their positions in the troubled north-west, killing at least three insurgents, an official said Monday. The clashes occurred Sunday when rebels targeted checkpoints in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

The area is the stronghold of top Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who has been blamed for dozens of deadly attacks, including the one that killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Islamabad, Apr. 13: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has said that it would prefer to be an opposition party at the centre "in democracy's interest."

"The Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) will not work to destabilize the federal government and will act as constructive opposition," the Dawn quoted PML-N spokesman Siddiqul Farooq, as saying.

Islamabad, Apr. 13: The strategic relations between Pakistan and the United States are deteriorating following India's enhanced role in the US strategy on Afghanistan.

The situation became apparent after a prickly Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi pointed towards a trust deficit between the two allies and asked the senior partner for a fair treatment based on mutual trust and respect, the Dawn reports.

Background interviews revealed that strains in the relations were much more serious than visible.

Islamabad, Apr. 13 : The Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John Kerry met President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Monday.

Officials privy to the talks between Kerry and Gilani were quoted by the Dawn as saying that the Pakistan Prime Minister had told Senator Kerry that Pakistan does not want the US to base its aid on conditions linked to the campaign against militancy.

Islamabad, Apr. 13 : Deciding to play safe on the issue of signing a deal with the Taliban to impose a sharia law in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of the country, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has sent the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, 2009 to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to table it before Parliament.

Zardari's move clearly suggests that he alone does not want to be held responsible for the controversial deal with the banned Taliban. If the deal backfires, it will be Parliament that would have to take responsibility for it.