Lahore, Feb. 26: Furious over the Supreme Court's decision to disqualify him from being a member of the Parliament, former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has termed the verdict `an edict'.

"This is not a court decision but an edict and the entire nation knows where this edict came from," The Daily Times quoted Sharif, as saying.

Talking to media persons after the apex court's verdict, he accused President Asif Ali Zardari of gambling over the issue.

Lahore, Feb. 26 : The United States has refused to comment on the Pakistan Supreme Court's decision to disqualify former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif form contesting elections, saying it is Pakistan's `internal matter'.

According to The Daily Times, a statement issued by the US State Department said: "The disqualification was an internal matter and Washington would not comment on it."

Lahore, Feb. 26 : Furious over the Supreme Court's decision to disqualify him from being a member of the Parliament, former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has termed the verdict `an edict'.

"This is not a court decision but an edict and the entire nation knows where this edict came from," The Daily Times quoted Sharif, as saying.

Talking to media persons after the apex court's verdict, he accused President Asif Ali Zardari of gambling over the issue.

Barely a year after Pakistanis reinstated a democratically-elected government by voting Pervez Musharraf out of power, the country is again faced with a major political turmoil with the Supreme Court on Wednesday barring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections because of prior criminal conviction.

The apex court unseated his brother Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab, because of alleged irregularities in the elections. While charges against Nawaz stemmed from the Musharraf-led coup in 1999, Shahbaz's rivals had challenged his election to the provincial assembly.

Governor's rule has been imposed in the province.

Islamabad  - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to approve a second tranche of 800 million dollars of its 7.6-billon- dollar program to save Pakistan from defaulting on external payments, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"The Executive Board of the IMF will approve the second tranche for Pakistan by the end of March 2009," Pakistan's Finance Secretary Waqar Masood told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from Dubai, where the sides concluded the talks.

New Delhi, Feb 25 : Mumbai Police on Wednesday filed an approximately 5,000-page chargesheet on the 26/11 terror attacks.

The detailed chargesheet, presented to Metropolitan Magistrate M J Mirza, included reports and forensic examination conducted by the FBI, which had been working along with central security agencies.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive during the attacks, was not produced in court.

Besides Kasab, nine Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists and twenty most wanted accused were named in the chargesheet.