By Xinhua,
Islamabad : Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has rejected a request from his British counterpart Gordon Brown to allow Britain to question suspects arrested in connection with last month’s Mumbai terror attacks.
“The prime minister asked me to allow British police to have access to the Pakistanis. But I turned down the request,” Gilani told the parliament Monday during a discussion on the Mumbai attacks.
Gilani said if there were any proofs, these suspects would be prosecuted under the Pakistani law.
Brown offered Pakistan and India help to fight terrorism Sunday during a visit to the region to ease tensions between the two neighbours following the Mumbai attacks that killed 173 people.
During his visit, Brown asked the leaders of the two countries to allow British police to question the suspects arrested in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks, reports said.
Under pressure from India and the US, Pakistan intensified its crackdown on the suspected groups and arrested some leaders of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa, blamed for the attacks.
Pakistan said Saturday that Indian fighter jets had violated its airspace twice. However, President Asif Ali Zardari later said that Indian planes had intruded into Pakistan’s airspace due to a technical error.
“We have to focus on our problems and we don’t want to go into war,” the Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Gilani as saying.
“But if the war is thrust on us, we will stand united like a respectful nation,” Gilani said.