KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec. 1 -- Clashes between two ethnic groups in Pakistan's port city of Karachi during the weekend killed at least 28 people, police said Monday.

The groups, which were not identified, rioted, attacked each other and indulged in arson in several sections of the city, the English-language newspaper Dawn reported, adding more than 50 shops and at least 60 vehicles were set on fire.

Authorities in Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, banned riding on two-wheeled vehicles for three days to curb sniping, Dawn said.

Lahore, Dec 1: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, has termed India’s attitude as undiplomatic after the Mumbai terror strikes that killed 195 people.

He said New Delhi had no right to talk of summoning any official of any Pakistani agency (for clarification on the Mumbai tragedy) and its attitude was against diplomatic norms.

“It is a prerogative of Pakistan to decide at which level to cooperate with India in the probe on the Mumbai incident,” Dawn quoted Rehman, as saying.

Lahore, Dec 1: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that New Delhi and Islamabad face threats from the same forces, and Pakistan is ready to co-operate with India on the investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks.

“If any evidence points to any individual or group in my part of Pakistan, I shall take the strictest of action in the light of the evidence and in front of the world,” he said.

Washington, Dec 1: By declaring that it is going to withdraw its troops from the Afghan border, Pakistan is trying to put pressure on Washington to persuade India not to mobilise its Army.

“This is high politics. The Pakistan Army knows the US cares that it remains engaged in the war against terror, so by declaring that it is going to withdraw, it is trying to put pressure on Washington to persuade New Delhi not to mobilise its troops,” said Christine Fair, a US expert on South Asia.

Marvin Weinbaum, a former adviser to the US State Department on South Asia who now works for a Washington think-tank, believed that the situation had not yet reached a point where Pakistan could begin withdrawing its troops from the Afghan border.

Islamabad, Dec 1 : In an attempt to evolve a national consensus over the crisis that has emerged after the terror strikes on Mumbai, Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani has called a Multi-Party Conference (MPC) on national security on Tuesday.

The heads of all political parties have been invited to the conference to help evolve a consensus on how Pakistan should act in the prevailing situation and what steps should be taken if it gets worse.

Islamabad, Dec 1 : The Pakistan Army has termed some notorious militant commanders belonging to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, including Baitullah Mehsud and Maulvi Fazlullah, as “patriotic” Pakistanis.

These two militant commanders are fighting the Army for the last four years and have invariably been accused of terrorism against Pakistan, but in the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage has suddenly turned terrorists into patriots, The News reported.