Lahore, Oct 22 : Students in Pakistan’s top universities in Lahore are of the opinion that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is ‘too aggressive’, ‘irresponsible’ and an ‘enemy of Muslims’. They said that his declared policy toward insurgency-plagued areas would “make a bad situation worse”, said a report in the Washington Times.

Obama has often repeated in his election campaign that he would authorise US forces to enter Pakistani territory to hunt down the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Lahore, Oct 19 : Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan commander Baitullah Mehsud’s opponent faction in North Waziristan has announced the creation of a new parallel organisation, the Muqami Tehreek-e-Taliban or local Taliban, effectively splitting from TTP.

Top commander and former Mehsud lieutenant, Hafiz Gul Bahadar, made the announcement on Friday, the Daily Times reported.

Lahore, Oct 19 : Pakistan authorities have charged a US citizen held in the Tribal Areas with illegal entry and illegal possession of a weapon.

Pakistan Ambassador to US Hussain Haqaani said Juddi Kenan Muhammad had been arrested on Monday at a checkpoint in Mohmand.

He said Muhammad carried a US passport and was travelling to see a friend in Mohmand.

However, he was detained because all foreigners are required to have a permit to enter such areas, the Daily Times reported.

“There is no evidence Muhammad poses a security risk,” the ambassador was quoted as saying.

Lahore, Oct 18 : Though it has now become “so critical” for the Bush administration to provide Pakistan with new and refurbished F-16 jet fighters to fight the Taliban, the US Congress is still not sure as to why Islamabad needed the jets when it was fighting the extremists on the ground.

According to a Christian Science Monitor (CSM), the US Congress was not sure “Islamabad could be trusted to use the planes against tribal Taliban”.

Lahore, Oct 17 : At the bi-annual meeting between India’s Border Security Force (BSF) Pakistani Rangers officials here last evening, the two countries decided to conduct joint patrols along the border to curb smuggling.

Both sides also agreed to eliminate smuggling and drug trafficking and to counter the problem firmly. Besides, they decided to provide early information to each other regarding practice firing of small arms at ranges located close to the international border to avoid any misunderstanding.

These decisions were announced during a joint press briefing of the Pakistan Rangers and the BSF.

Lahore, Oct 17 : A top secret report, which is still in draft stages, has described Pakistani economy to be “on the edge”, as it had “no money, no energy, and no government”.

According to US official who participated in drafting of the report, it portrays the situation in Pakistan as ‘very bad’ having “no money, no energy, no government”. Another official called the draft ‘very bleak’, and said it describes Pakistan as being ‘on the edge’.