Pakistan and India warn on Iraq

Pakistan and India warn on Iraq

Pakistani public opinion strongly opposes US military action

Pakistan and India have both warned they may not support a war on Iraq.

Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali of Pakistan - a UN Security Council member - said it would be "very difficult" for his government to support an attack against Iraq.

And Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee said the Indian government would not support military action unless it was sanctioned by the UN.

Both countries have called on the UN to give Iraq more time to comply with its resolutions.

Pressure

"Our cabinet, our government, has taken a unanimous decision that it will be very difficult for Pakistan to support war against Iraq," Prime Minister Jamali said late on Tuesday.

Mr Jamali is sensitive to critics in the parliament and outside

"We would not want to see the destruction of the Iraqi people... it would be very difficult for any Pakistani to endure that," he said.

Mr Jamali said he was appealing "to the United Nations, to the countries in the world, that more time for peace should be given to Iraq."

However, he did not say how Pakistan would use its vote on a proposed UN Security Council resolution authorising war.

As one of the Security Council's 10 non-permanent members, Pakistan has been under intense pressure to support its key international ally, the US.

But public opinion in Pakistan is strongly opposed to military operations against Iraq, as large-scale demonstrations in many cities have shown.

The six-party Islamist coalition, the MMA, which sits in the opposition, led a 200,000-strong anti-war rally on Sunday.

Pakistan has been key US ally in its war against terror since the launch of US-led operations in Afghanistan.

There has been a groundswell of opinion in the country against President Pervez Musharraf's decision to support the US.

Correspondents say Mr Jamali's ruling coalition lacks the majority to ignore its critics in the parliament and on the streets, and an abstention is probably the most pragmatic way ahead for it.

The BBC's Paul Anderson in Islamabad says Pakistanis are convinced a grab for Iraqi oil lies at the heart of Amercan designs on Iraq.

'World at risk'

In Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee addressed parliament on Wednesday on his concerns on Iraq.

"It is wrong if an outside force changes power in a country and places a regime of its choice. We do not support that," he said.

"It is my belief that there will be no unilateral action, because that means ignoring the United Nations and putting the world at risk."

The BBC's Jill McGivering in Delhi says the India's prime minister's comments are his clearest yet on the Iraq crisis and come as he struggles to find a balance between its close relations with both the US and Iraq.

Pressure has been building up in India for the government to spell out their position following accusations that it has so far failed to make its stance clear.

Our correspondent says India does not want to alienate the US and wants its support over what it says is Pakistani-backed militancy in Indian-administered Kashmir.

However, India has maintained close relations with Iraq, one of the few countries to support it when it carried out its nuclear test in 1998.