Pakistan assembly to combat terror

New members took their oaths last month

By Zaffar Abbas BBC reporter in Islamabad

Pakistan's new civilian government has decided to continue with the policy of the previous military regime to clampdown on suspected terrorists.

Pakistanis suspected of al-Qaeda links will not be extradited

The government has said it is still particularly keen to pursue those with suspected links to al-Qaeda.

After the first cabinet meeting of the newly installed government of Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, information minister Sheikh Rasheed said the policy only applied to foreign nationals.

Pakistani citizens would not be handed over the Americans if they were suspected of terrorist links.

In the past year, Pakistan has arrested about 400 people for having suspected links with al-Qaeda or the Taliban and many of them have been extradited to the United States.

Eliminating terrorism

Sheikh Rasheed said, like the previous military government of General Pervez Musharraf, the present civilian administration is also committed to helping the international community eliminate terrorism.

He said the security operation against suspected members of al-Qaeda is being carried out by Pakistani forces and only around a dozen FBI officials are in the country to provide technical assistance.

Mr Rasheed said he has no information about the latest arrest of some people in Peshawar on suspicion of having links with al-Qaeda.

Earlier, newspaper reports had suggested a number of people have been rounded up from the city on the charge of distributing audiocassettes of Osama Bin Laden.

Lowering prices

During its first meeting, the federal cabinet also discussed Pakistan's decision to postpone the summit meeting of the seven-nation South Asian grouping and blamed India for derailing the process of co-operation between the countries of the region.

Mr Rasheed said the cabinet has decided to gradually reduce the price of essential commodities to give relief to the common people and as a first step has brought down the tariff of electricity in the country.

He said a special fund of 3.5 billion rupees ($58.3m) has also been approved which will be distributed equally among the elected members of the National Assembly.

The money will be used on development projects in the members' respective constituencies in the remaining six months of the financial year.