Lahore, Feb. 22 : Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has charged former President General Pervez Musharraf of planning to execute him after toppling his government 10 years ago following his Kargil misadventure.

Addressing the Pakistan People's Party- Nawaz (PML-N) general council meeting at his Raiwind residence, Sharif said Musharraf and his associates wanted to hang him after the coup, but judge Rehmat Ali Jaffery refrained from awarding death sentence despite immense pressure.

Lahore, Feb. 22 : Pakistan People's Party leader Qasim Zia has dared the Pakistan Muslim Legue-Nawaz to start legal proceedings against former President Pervez Musharraf for toppling the Nawaz Sharif government in 1999, instead of blaming PPP for taking Musharraf's dictatorial policies forward.

Addressing a press conference, Zia said the PML-N should take the case of General Musharraf to the court of law and get him arrested, adding that the PPP would never hinder such a move.

Wuhan (China), Feb. 22 : In a bid to strengthen ties with its long time ally, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the ports of the country were open to cater to the needs of Chinese cargo ships.

"We will encourage Chinese companies to come to Pakistan as Pakistan is geo-strategically located and provides them access to the rest of the world through our warm waters," The Nation quoted Zardari, as saying.

Lahore, Feb. 22 : After a long denial, Pakistan for the first time has `officially' accepted that the US drones are using airbases present inside its geographical territory.

Pakistan Defense Minister, Ahmad Mukhtar has admitted that the US Predator airplanes operated from Pakistani airbases, but denied that they carried out attacks in the Tribal areas using these launching pads.

"US drones have been allowed to land in Pakistan only for `logistical reasons'," The Dawn quoted Muhktar, as saying.

Mukhtar said that the drone attacks were being carried out from bases in Afghanistan.

Islamabad, Feb. 22 : Hours after the North West Frontier Province government claimed that it has reached an accord with the Tehrik-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for a permanent ceasefire in the Swat Valley, chief of the Taliban, Maulana Fazlullah, refused to have agreed to any such deal saying that the peace agreement was for only 10 days, The New York Times reports.

"We had only agreed to a 10-day truce and would consider an extension at the end of that period," Fazlullah said while speaking on his private FM radio channel.

Washington, Feb 22 : After negotiating for three years, India and Pakistan were on the verge of reaching a settlement to resolve the decades-old conflict over Jammu and Kashmir, according to a leading US newspaper.

The negotiations, which began in 2004, produced the outlines of an accord that would have allowed a gradual demilitarization of Jammu and Kashmir, a flash point in relations between the two neighbours since 1947, The Washington Post reported.