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The Election Commission yesterday ordered the Punjab provincial government to immediately withdraw a new law allowing local government leaders to contest October 10 elections without resigning from their present offices.

Pakistan's Election Commission yesterday announced the schedule for the October parliamentary elections, setting a week's time for filing of nomination papers by prospective candidates.

President General Pervez Musharraf yesterday empowered himself to dismiss the future National Assembly and established a National Security Council (NSC) to give the armed forces a first-time formal role in politics.

Ninety-nine political parties and groups in Pakistan have sought allotment of election symbols to run in the October parliamentary polls, Chief Election Commi-ssioner Irshad Hasan Khan said yesterday.

The Pakistani military government's think-tank yesterday launched an intensive evaluation of public views on controversial constitutional amendments President Pervez Musharraf proposes to carry out ahead of the October 10 general election.

Pakistan yesterday slammed British plans to sell warplanes to India, saying the move would trigger an arms race in the region.

Six Pakistanis were killed and at least three injured when unidentified gunmen attacked a Christian missionary school at the hill resort of Murree near Islamabad yesterday, police said.

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) yesterday elected Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, as its president, and named Nawaz Sharif as overall guide of the party.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin yesterday underscored the "urgent need" for Pakistan and India to end mutual hostility and engage in dialogue to resolve their differences.

The military government declared yesterday that Pakistan Muslim League president Shahbaz Sharif would not be allowed to enter the country while former prime minister Benazir Bhutto could come back but would be arrested.

Three Pakistani nurses were killed and 26 other people were wounded in a terrorist grenade attack on a Christian hospital chapel at Taxila, an ancient Buddhist town 25km west of Islamabad, police and administration officials said.

Former Pakistan military ruler General Zia-ul-Haq's son, Mohammed Ejaz-ul-Haq, who broke away from the Pakistan Muslim League-QA, suffered a blow to his political ambitions yesterday when the Election Commission refused to register his newly formed faction.