Pakistan Says No Troops To Iraq Under Present Volatile Conditions

ISLAMABAD, Aug 2 (AFP) - Pakistan said Monday it would not send troops to Iraq under the present "volatile and unstable" situation, after being criticised for not ruling out military deployment in time to save two Pakistani hostages from being killed by militants.
"We are not sending troops under the present circumstances," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan said at his weekly press briefing.
Pakistan had earlier said it would consider sending troops to the war ravaged country only if a request came from the people of Iraq and was backed by the UN.
Khan stressed Pakistan had made no pledge on deploying troops.
"There is no commitment whatsoever on troops deployment. The situation there is volatile and unstable ... it does not make any sense," Khan said.
Khan said the United Nations had approached Pakistan for troops to guard UN missions which have not yet been established.
Islamabad rejected a United States request last year to contribute to a Muslim peacekeeping force.
Two migrant workers from a poor village in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir were killed last week after their armed captors alleged they were spying for the United States and that Pakistan was planning to deploy troops in Iraq.
Khan rejected the allegations as "false and baseless."
After the killings, the government was slammed by the victims' families and opposition politicians for not categorically ruling out troop deployment to Iraq.
Pakistan's position from the very beginning was clear, Khan said. "We made even more categorical statements in the past," he added.
"We opposed the war in Iraq and we advised there should be a peaceful approach," he said, referring to Pakistan's position that any invasion of Iraq should have the backing of the United Nations.
The spokesman condemned the killing of the Pakistani pair, saying their captors had "no right under any religion or faith to kill innocent immigrant workers."
Pakistan has asked for repatriation of their bodies and Iraqi clerics have also issued appeals to hand over their bodies for burial by their families, he added.