Islamabad, Jan. 3 : Pakistan has arrested a former Taliban spokesman, who was released by Afghanistan in 2007 in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist.

The Dawn quoted security officials as saying that Ustad Mohammed Yasir was detained in Peshawar, near the Afghan border.

Yasir was Taliban leader Mullah Omar''s spokesman after the regime''s fall in Afghanistan in 2001, an official said Saturday.

He said Pakistan first arrested Yasir in 2005 and sent him to Afghanistan, where he was released along with four other Taliban figures for journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.

Larkana (sindh, Pakistan), Jan.

Lahore, Jan. 3 : The political game in Pakistan's Punjab Province is taking a new turn, with neither the PPP nor the PML-N willing to compromise or budge on their respective stances.

The Nation quotes political observers as saying that the distance between PPP Governor Salman Taseer and PML-N Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is widening with the passage of time and warns that a direct confrontation between them may create a new problem, especially for the province and for the country in general.

Islamabad, Jan. 3 : A leading daily in Pakistan has contradicted the statement of a Foreign Office spokesman which said that Pakistan has no terrorist infrastructure on its soil.

According to an editorial in `The News' the statement of the official was no were near the reality. The fact that Pakistan provided a safe haven to the terrorist groups and that its territory is being used as a breeding ground of these outlawed groups can not be denied.

Islamabad, Jan. 3 : The Pakistani Taliban has announced the enforcement of sharia in the Shakai, Sheikhan and Mulakhel areas of Hangu District within a month of a similar `enforcement' in Orakzai agency of the North Western Frontier Province.

Reports reaching here from Hangu said that Taliban were using loudspeakers in mosques to announce the decree and asked people to bring their issues to `Taliban Islamic courts' for their resolution.

According to the Daily Times, the new Taliban laws don't allow women to visit bazaars. They can only go out for medical treatments, but only if they are accompanied by a male elder of the family.

The Taliban has imposed a complete ban on TV and CDs and video centres in the lower agency.

Lahore, Jan. 3 : Despite India calling -off its cricket tour to Pakistan, relations between the two cricket boards have not suffered any dent.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has rejected reports which suggested that the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) was behind the delay in Sri Lanka's confirmation of its tour of Pakistan.

"Despite the cancellation of the Indian team's tour, the PCB continues to have good relations with the BCCI," PCB chief operating officer Salim Altaf said.