- News>
- Asia
Pak to send troops to Iraq after considering national interest
Islamabad, Oct 10: Pakistan would send troops to Iraq after taking into account its national interest, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has said.
Islamabad, Oct 10: Pakistan would send troops to Iraq after taking into account its national interest, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has said.
Jamali, who arrived here last night, from his first official visit to US, told the media that sending Pakistani troops to Iraq to reinforce the American troops figured in his talks with President George W Bush and other American officials.
The troops would be sent only after "taking the nation and Parliament into confidence...And considering our national interest", he said.
On Pakistan's stand on the us draft resolution on Iraq submitted to the UN Security Council seeking deployment of UN troops, he said, "we will look into it". Jamali, though, refused to "disclose" what transpired between him and President Bush on sending Pakistani troops to Iraq. "Everything can not be disclosed. National interest was supreme and it would be guarded", he said.
Jamali also declined to give a direct answer to a question whether pakistani troops would be under the us command or some other force. He said the draft resolution specifying us role in iraq would be studied and a decision would then be taken.
Before he left New York yesterday, Jamali had a 30 minute long meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan during which both discussed the issue of sending troops to Iraq. "Yes we spoke about Iraq and sending Pakistani troops and I said we need the UN and OIC cover, including a request from the Iraqi people for our help,” Jamali told the media after his meeting with Annan.
Bureau Report
The troops would be sent only after "taking the nation and Parliament into confidence...And considering our national interest", he said.
On Pakistan's stand on the us draft resolution on Iraq submitted to the UN Security Council seeking deployment of UN troops, he said, "we will look into it". Jamali, though, refused to "disclose" what transpired between him and President Bush on sending Pakistani troops to Iraq. "Everything can not be disclosed. National interest was supreme and it would be guarded", he said.
Jamali also declined to give a direct answer to a question whether pakistani troops would be under the us command or some other force. He said the draft resolution specifying us role in iraq would be studied and a decision would then be taken.
Before he left New York yesterday, Jamali had a 30 minute long meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan during which both discussed the issue of sending troops to Iraq. "Yes we spoke about Iraq and sending Pakistani troops and I said we need the UN and OIC cover, including a request from the Iraqi people for our help,” Jamali told the media after his meeting with Annan.
Bureau Report