PARIS, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to re-impose a settlement freeze, saying it was the only way for peace talks to succeed, his spokesman said.

President Abbas "wants to continue the negotiations but Netanyahu must take a decision to freeze the settlements in order to create an appropriate atmosphere to proceed with the peace talks," Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in the French capital.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said called within two days the lists of officers who benefited from National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), Geo News reported Saturday.

According to the spokesman Prime Minister House, the premier directed Establishment Division to provide him the lists of all such officers who got benefited from the NRO and they are still working in various offices.

The Supreme Court (SC) declared the NRO as opposed to national interest and the Constitution and restored all abolished cases to position before October 5, 2007.

The bureaucrats that elicited benefit from the Ordinance include 146 officers from Punjab and 66 from Sindh; while, Balochistan has lineup of at least 11 officers and Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw has one officer on the list.

These officers include President Asif Ali Zardari’s Secretary General Salman Farooqui, Pak Ambassador in US Hussain Haqqani, Saeed Mehdi and Brig. (rtd) Imtiaz Ahmed.

Saeed Mehdi voluntarily resigned from his office of adviser of Punjab Chief Minister after the NRO was annulled; however, Hussain is currently working as ambassador and Salman Farooqui is currently in his office at Presidency.