Karachi, Aug. 1 : With Washington ramping up pressure on Islamabad to rein in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and other Pakistani intelligence outfits, the impact is being felt in the country’s share/ stock markets.

On Thursday, the benchmark KSE-100 Index of the Karachi Stock Exchange dropped by around 2.5 per cent or 269 points to close at 10,583, as nervous foreign investors sold portfolios worth more than 8.7 million dollars domestic institutions also adopted a cautious approach.

Islamabad, August 1 : Nearly 60-70 Pakistani immigrants are intercepted at the Iran-Turkey border every week and that a total of nearly 700 Pakistanis are imprisoned in various Turkish jails, said Pakistan’s Ambassador in Ankara Iftikhar Hussain Shah.

Shah said these Pakistani nationals are imprisoned in Turkish jails for illegal entry into the country, and that efforts were being made for their immediate return to their home country.

“We are making arrangements for their early return to Pakistan,” the Daily Times quoted the Pakistani envoy as saying in an interview with the BBC Radio.

Lahore, Aug 1 : Leader of the House in the Senate, the Upper House in Pakistan’s parliament, Mian Raza Rabbani has said that President Pervez Musharraf was a major destablisling factor for the PPP-led coalition government in Islamabad, and that his impeachment would be a priority issue for the Yousuf Raza Gilani government “once it gained the requisite strength in parliament”.

“The President remains the major destabilising factor for the coalition government,” The News quoted Rabbani as saying while talking to journalists at a press conference here last evening.

Karachi - Pakistan stocks plunged 3.89 per cent on Friday amid constant foreign selling attributed to US allegations that the country's military was supporting Islamic militancy in neighbouring Afghanistan, traders said.

The key KSE-100 Index of the Karachi Stock Exchange fell by over 412 points to close at 10,171 as the New York Times on Thursday cited a new CIA assessment saying Pakistani intelligence agents were involved in the July 7 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed 54 people.

The conclusions were reached on the basis of communications intercepted between the attackers and Pakistani intelligence officers, the Times reported.

New Delhi, Aug 1: In the wake of the repeated ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistan Army, India has expressed its deep concern, and said that the matter has been taken up with Pakistan at the highest level.

“We have already expressed our concern and the issue of ceasefire violation has been taken up with Pakistan at the highest level,” Defence Minister A K Antony told reporters here on Friday.

Antony accepted that the security scenario is changing and emphasized that India wants to maintain good relations with its neighbours.

“We get setbacks in improving relations but we will keep on making attempts to harmonise the relationship with our neighbours,” he added.

Khar, Aug 1 : The Pakistan unit of the Taliban - Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – has described as ‘baseless’ the statement made by Adviser to the Pakistan PM on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik saying that TTP was getting funds from India.

Dismissing the statement, TTP spokesman Maulvi Umer said that it was totally unfounded as the TTP was fighting jihad against India and considered it as an enemy.