S P O T L I G H T

Masood Azhar freed
Multan, (Pakistan) December 29 
The Pakistan police today ended the house arrest of Maulana Masood Azhar, leader of outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed wanted in India on charges of terrorism, police officials said. Azhar had been under house arrest since December, 2001, in the Pakistani city of Bahawalpur, 500 km south of Islamabad. Reuters

Pak legislator shot
Lahore, December 29
A Punjab provincial lawmaker was shot and killed today, along with a bodyguard and four family members, police sources said. Chaudhry Mohammed Farooq, from a small breakaway faction of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, was returning home from a family funeral, along with a bodyguard and family members, when his vehicle was attacked by five men in a second vehicle. All died on the spot. AP