TEHRAN: A long-awaited military exercise, locally known as the ``anti-taleban manoeuvre'', ended today in southeastern Iran after only a few hours, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported. The manoeuvre, code-named Zolfaqar-2, after the sword of the first Shiite Imam Ali, started Monday morning in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province under direct orders of supreme leader Ayatollah ali khamenei, commander in chief of the armed forces. It ended at around noon. Some 200,000 troops from the regular army plus 70,000 from the paramilitary revolutionary guards took part. The manoeuvre was mainly aimed against the ultra-islamic taliban group, which controls 90 per cent of afghanistan. Army commander major general Ali Shahbazi described the exercises as ``fruitful and positive''.ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may be in for another bout with the judiciary now that the supreme court has issued contempt notices to about twenty-four of his confidants and supporters forstorming the court building in November last year when it was hearing a contempt case against him. Those who have received notices included two national assembly members and four members of the provincial assemblies of the Pakistan Muslim League. An elected member of the national or provincial assembly can lose his seat if found guilty of contempt of court. The contempt notices issued to League members said, they, prima facie, committed gross contempt of court by raising derogatory slogans in and around the supreme court premises last November.
