Islamabad, Nov 26 : The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has reportedly approved ten new satellite YV channels.

The decision to give new licences was taken at PEMRA’s its 51st meeting here Tuesday.

The approved channels include Pakistan’s first health channel. The Authority also granted landing right to a TV channel for children.

Besides, two educational institutions – Hazara University, Mansehra and Ziauddin University, Karachi – were granted non-commercial FM radio licences.

According to the Daily Times, the Authority also approved 145 new cable TV operator licences.

Quetta, Nov 26 : Pakistan Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior has reportedly admitted the presence of ‘countless hidden torture cells’ across the country, and called for jail reforms to shut these cells.

Addressing a press conference, Committee Chairman Talha Mahmood said the ‘torture cells’ were being maintained by intelligence agencies.

Islamabad, Nov 26 : Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that his government will consider a number of options to stop US drone attacks inside Pakistan.

A decision on how to counter these attacks would be made by the newly formed parliamentary committee on national security, he added.

“Let the committee hold its first meeting. We have a number of options that we can consider to counter these attacks apart from going to the UN,” the Daily Times quoted him as saying in a TV interview.

Islamabad  - Four people were killed on Wednesday in fighting between Taliban militants and local residents in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's North Western frontier Province (NWFP), police said.

The fighting broke out when around 50 militants attacked the house of a local mayor Abdul Malik in Matni area.

"The relatives of Mr Malik exchanged fire with the militants for over three hours and repulsed the attack," said a police investigator Riaz Khan.

Two Islamic insurgents and two locals were among the dead. The mayor, his wife and two more people were injured in the crossfire, he added.

Lahore, Nov 26 : Human rights and social activists in Pakistan have said that though several laws have been promulgated in the past to counter terrorism, but steps taken by the Punjab government to ensure security in the province couldn’t be effective unless the entire nation evolved a comprehensive strategy against extremism.

They aired these views at a one-day media workshop on the ‘Radicalisation in Pakistan’, here last evening. The workshop was organised by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).

Islamabad, Nov 25 : The fifth round of Home Secretary level talks between India and Pakistan on terrorism, drug trafficking and related issues commenced in Islamabad on Tuesday as a part of the composite dialogue process.

Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta led the Indian delegation, while Secretary, Ministry of Interior Syed Kamal Shah, headed the Pakistan delegation.

The talks would continue on Wednesday also.