Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf today directed authorities to launch a “targeted operation” against militants in Quetta following the killing of nearly 90 people in a terror attack in the Shia-dominated southwestern Pakistani city.

The death toll in a devastating bomb attack that targeted Shia Hazaras in Quetta city of southwestern Pakistan today rose to 81 as several persons died in hospital and bodies were pulled out of the rubble of collapsed buildings, officials said.

Amidst speculation about a delay in Pakistan’s upcoming general election, President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the polls will be held “on time” so that the foundations of the democratic set-up can be strengthened and the country can move forward.

Kicking-off the first phase of the American pull-out from Afghanistan, US has started using Pakistani land routes to withdraw its military hardware from Afghanistan, with 50 shipping containers moved over the weekend.

Amidst continuing speculation that elements backed by the security establishment are working to delay Pakistan’s general election, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf today said there could be “no room for any delay” in holding the polls.

Underlining that Pakistan and India are standing at the “crossroads of history”, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf today said the bilateral peace process should be “uninterrupted” so that it can produce results.

Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik today said he had ordered an inquiry into the death of Indian national Chambail Singh, who died after he was allegedly assaulted by prison staff in Lahore last month.

A powerful bomb went off near a mosque in Pakistan’s restive northwest today, killing 12 people and injuring 20 more, a police official said.

A petition filed by a retired colonel challenging the unprecedented three-year extension given by Pakistan government to army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was today dismissed by a court here.

Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik said on Saturday that people on both sides of the border fear a nuclear war between Pakistan and India.