ISLAMABAD, June 24: The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Interior was informed on Thursday that terrorists and foreign militants in Wana had taken part in the 'Afghan jihad' on the directives of the then government of Pakistan.

The committee, which was convened by its chairman Sardar Talib Hussain Nakai, was informed that terrorists, wanted in Karachi and Wana, had been trained by the army and they had fought in the 'Afghan jihad' to safeguard the interests of Pakistan.

The meeting was attended by, among others, secretary interior Tariq Mehmood, chairman National Crisis Management Cell Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema, Inspector-General of Police, Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah, Chief Commissioner, Islamabad, Junaid Iqbal, IGP, Islamabad, Fayyaz Ahmed Tooru, members of the committee Tehmina Daultana, Mian Mohammad Aslam, Nayyar Bukhari, Farid Ahmed Paracha, Rajab Ali Khan, Syed Tasneem Nawaz Gardezi, Chaudhry Shahid Akram Bhinder, Ms Onaza Ehsan, Mohammad Safdar Shaker and Amjad Ali Warraich.

Responding to a query by Tehmina Daultana on whether the wanted terrorists in Wana and foreign militants were trained by an intelligence agency of the country, the secretary interior said although these elements had taken part in the 'Afghan jihad' at the behest of Pakistan, that war ended over a decade ago and most of them, who had taken part in that war, had started leading peaceful lives and joined different professions.

Mian Mohammad Aslam questioned the logic of raising the issue of Wana after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US despite the fact that these elements had been living peacefully in that area for a long time.

The meeting stressed the need for registration of foreign militants and all other foreign nationals living in the country. "The country's soil should not (serve as) a 'safe haven' for any illegal immigrant," the members of the committee said.

Mr Nayyar Bokhari said that the possibility of involvement of the Indian intelligence agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), could not be ruled out in terrorist activities in the country.

Farid Ahmed Paracha said many innocent people had been declared terrorists by intelligence and law enforcement agencies not as a result of their own investigations but the lists of such people had come from other countries.

The IG police Sindh said nine of the arrested members of a recently-busted gang 'Jundallah' had taken part in the 'Afghan jihad' and they had also spent almost three months in Wana.

The same gang, he said, was involved in various incident of terrorism in Quetta, Karachi and other parts of the country, particularly in attacks on President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi and the recent attack on the Corps Commander, Karachi.