Islamabad, Dec. 9: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the menace of terrorism is affecting his country as much as India, and added that it would be a futile exercise to pin the blame just on Pakistan.

Washington, Dec. 9 : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that the Pakistani establishment has had historic ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba, although now it''s committed to fighting them.

In an interview to CNN on Sunday evening, Rice read out a charge-sheet against the Lashkar, spelling out the reasons for taking action against the group which, she said, was not only involved in the Mumbai attacks but also moved in "the same circles" as Al Qaeda.

"Well, there have been historic ties. There''s no doubt about that," the Dawn quoted Rice as saying when asked if Lashkar leaders were trained and supported by Pakistani intelligence agencies.

Lahore, Dec. 9 : Pakistani authorities have placed restrictions on the movement of Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), by confining him to his multi-storied concrete compound in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur.

The News quoted well-placed official sources as saying that Azhar’s activities have been restricted in the wake of the Indian Government’s recent demand that he be handed over to New Delhi.

Lahore, Dec. 9 : A Lashkar-e-Taiba coordinator has said that the arrest of at least 20 Jamaat-ud-Dawa activists, including the purported mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, Zaki-u-Rehman Lakhvi, on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, will not stop the militant outfit from continuing with its activities.

"We are still well-organized and active," the Washington Times quoted the Lashkar coordinator, as saying during an interaction at a safe house near Lahore.

The Lashkar fighter in Lahore said the group has "huge strength" and is concentrated in Pakistan''s tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.

Islamabad, Dec. 9 : The Pakistan army confirmed late on Monday it has begun an operation against banned organizations in the wake of the attacks in Mumbai last month, but did not name any organizations.

“There have been arrests and investigations are ongoing,” the Daily Times quoted a statement released by the ISPR, as saying.

The ISPR said that further details of the operations would be released once preliminary investigations had been completed.

Peshawar, Dec. 9 : The attacks by terrorists on NATO supplies outside Peshawar have reportedly deepened apprehensions of the possible fall of the city to the Taliban.

It maybe recalled that armed men stormed two poorly guarded freight terminals on the city’s Ring Road in the early hours on December 7 and burnt around 150 vehicles bound for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

A similar attack was carried out on December 8 at the same time on the same road, leading to the burning of 50 more trucks and armoured vehicles.