By IRNA,
Islamabad : Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said Monday he has rejected a request from his British counterpart to allow British police to quiz Pakistani suspects of the Mumbai attacks.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who traveled to Pakistan on Sunday, sought access to the activists of banned militant outfits in Pakistan arrested in the recent crackdown following the Mumbai attacks.
Brown said three British citizens were also killed in Mumbai attacks and that is why he had requested Pakistan to question the suspects.
“The British Prime Minister asked me to allow British police to have access to the Pakistanis. But I turned down the request,” Gilani told the parliament.
The Prime Minister said that he told his British counterpart that Pakistan will deal with own citizens under the country’s laws if evidence about their involvement in attacks are provided.
Brown, who also traveled to New Delhi on Saturday, said he had also made the same request to the Indian Prime Minister to allow British police to question to question the lone attacker, who is in custody of the Indian police.
Gilani said that immediately after Mumbai attacks, he contacted his Indian counterpart to offer sympathies.
“India wanted intelligence cooperation but was told that this was possible only after evidence was provided to Pakistan”.
He said when India started building pressure, he himself and President Asif Ali Zardari immediately contacted a number of world leaders seeking their cooperation in defusing the tension.
He said he talked to his Turkish, Italian and Czech counterparts as well as German Chancellor and Sultan of Oman who played their role saying that war is no solution to any problem and it would be catastrophic not only for the region but the entire world.
The Prime Minister told the House that action against some entities was taken as per requirements of the UN Security Council Resolution. He said funds of these entities have been frozen, names of some individuals put on the Exit Control List and some others taken into protective custody for investigations.
The Prime Minister said there will be no restriction on welfare programmes like health and education facilities as well as charities run by the banned organizations.
Their nomenclature would be changed and taken over by the government itself so that beneficiaries of the social work do not suffer.