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Pakistan may consider `volunteers` for Iraq, says minister

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, July 17, IRNA -- Pakistan could think over sending some 
`volunteers` to Iraq for the protection of United Nations 
installations, however there is no such decision as yet, Information 
Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad said on Saturday. 
"We don`t want to receive coffins of our troops and as such 
question of sending military troops to Iraq doesn`t arise," Rashid 
told reporters in Rawalpindi when asked if there was any plan of 
sending troops to Iraq. 
In reply to a question about US Deputy Secretary of State Richard 
Armitage assertion that there were militants training camps for 
cross-border terrorism in Pakistan, the minister said, "The United 
States should see the ground realities ... and play an effective role 
to protect the rights of Kashmir people as guaranteed under the United
Nations resolutions." 
He said Armitage`s claim should be taken in the same way as the US
intelligence agencies report over the weapons of mass destruction in 
Iraq that proved totally wrong. 
"All what is said about the presence of terror training camps in 
Pakistan is part of well-designed propaganda which is false and 
malicious," the government spokesman added. 
In reply to another question about the appointment Pakistan`s UN 
Ambassador Jehangir Ashraf Qazi as UN secretary general`s envoy to 
Iraq, the official rejecting opposition`s concerns calling it a 
prelude for dispatching forces to the war-shattered country. 
"This is a matter of pride for Pakistan," he said. 
TK/TSH/2322/1432