Pakistani authorities ordered an investigation today into a video showing a man flogging a screaming woman in the country’s north-west where the government recently agreed to introduce Islamic law to end a rebellion by Taliban militants.

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said he would not allow former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif - his two main political rivals - to return to Pakistan to take part in forthcoming elections.

Gun battles and attacks killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens today as Pakistan’s political crisis descended into violence between rival parties over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s suspension of the chief justice.

The death toll in the powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake near the Pakistan-India border climbed to more than 2,000 today and included 250 girls who were crushed by rubble when their school collapsed.