L'opinion: Pakistan needs UN and OIC umbrella to send peace-keeping forces to Iraq

Pakistan will only send peace-keeping missions to Iraq under a mandate of the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who paid an official visit to Morocco, told Morocan daily "L'opinion."

Musharraf said Pakistan has not yet made a decision regarding a request to send troops to Iraq for a peace-keeping mission, underlining that the final decision should serve Pakistan's national interests and its relations with Islamic countries in the region.

On the situation in the Middle East, Musharraf said the only means to establish sustainable peace in the region goes through carrying on negotiations that would lead to a comprehensive and fair solution in conformity with United Nations resolutions and based on the legitimate right of the Palestinian people of self-determination.

Evoking Arab Maghreb countries' position on the Kashmir question, the Pakistani president underscored that he is certain that these countries fully understand Pakistan's position concerning its support for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Musharraf also said Pakistani authorities do not have any new information about where Ussam Bin Laden is, underlining that they don't know for sure if he is dead or still alive. In the same vein, he hoped Pakistani-Afghan relations would be further reinforced on the basis of mutual sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of the other party.

He added that Pakistan is participating in the re-construction of Afghanistan and that it fully supports the interim administration of president Hamid Karazay.