ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the National Assembly on Monday that Pakistan did not want war but could stand up to one imposed on it as his government seemed seeking to shake off pressure from alleged Pakistani linkages with last month’s Mumbai attacks.

He also reaffirmed that Pakistan would not allow its territory to be used for terrorist activity while opening a lower house debate on the situation arising out of the Nov 26 attacks in India’s financial capital that New Delhi says were carried out by gunmen linked to a banned Pakistan-based militant group.

The debate, whose first day was marked by assurances of opposition support in facing the situation, came after parliamentary group leaders of the two sides overcame a potentially divisive issue by agreeing to let the house standing committee on education probe an alleged favour won by a daughter of Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar to be able to get admission in a medical college, despite an apex court judge’s restraining order seen by critics as a challenge to parliamentary supremacy.

“There is no doubt that parliament is supreme, and the Constitution is supreme,” Speaker Fehmida Mirza declared after a fervent call by opposition leader Nisar Ali Khan to members to uphold the supremacy of parliament over other organs of the state and some supportive speeches from both sides of the political divide before the house suspended regular business to begin the debate on the Mumbai-related situation on a motion moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan.

The debate will continue on Tuesday when the house will reassemble at 3pm.

Prime Minister Gilani, speaking in Urdu, recalled Islamabad’s contacts with foreign leaders over Indian allegations that the 10 gunmen who carried out the attacks were linked to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, stressing that Pakistan was a responsible nuclear state, and said: “I assure this house and the people of Pakistan that we don’t want war, but if it were imposed on us then we will stand up to it as a self-respecting nation.”

He said Pakistan’s sovereignty and integrity would be protected for which “our armed forces are fully prepared and alert”, and added: “The military and the whole nation are united (for this objective).”

Mr Gilani acknowledged that Pakistan was put on “some weak ground” by last week’s UN Security Council resolution ordering sanctions against Jamaatud Dawa as a perceived front of Lashkar-e-Taiba, but said: “We are not on the defensive.”He said he would also assure the world through this house that “we will not allow our territory to be used for terrorism”.

Referring to a crackdown launched against Jamaatud Dawa, he said some actions had to be taken as a consequence of the Security Council resolution, but added that “welfare activities” of the group would be allowed to be carried out by changed management “boards”.

He was greeted with desk-thumping cheers when he repeated his Sunday’s statement that he had declined a demand by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to allow British investigators to interrogate detained Dawa leaders and said this would be done by Pakistan’s own investigators.

Pakistan Muslim League-N’s Javed Hashmi said the whole nation would support the government in the defence of the country but cautioned against what he called making “our institutions sacrificial goats”.

Pakistan Muslim League-Q’s parliamentary leader Faisal Saleh Hayat said the nation would stand behind the government if it reviewed the “parameters of its foreign policy” which, according to him, had resulted in a slide for the country over the past seven to eight months.Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s deputy parliamentary leader Haider Abbas Rizvi called for a united fight by Pakistan, India and Afghanistan against the “monster of terrorism” which, he said, appeared to be destabilising the whole region.

Former interior minister and PPP-S leader Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, who sounded somewhat hawkish, urged the government not to come under “Indian pressure” and assured it his party’s support if correct decisions were taken.

Nisar Ali Khan earlier complimented the treasury benches for agreeing to resume meetings of the house standing committee on education headed by his PML-N’s Abid Sher Ali in two to three days to probe allegations of favours done to the daughter of the chief justice by awarding her additional 20 marks in an intermediate examination that enabled her to get a seat in a medical college.

He described the order of a Supreme Court judge restraining the committee from the probe as an attack on the supremacy of parliament and appealed to all members of the house to “rise against the forces seeking to marginalise parliament”.

“We have to make this parliament sovereign and …we will not allow its sovereignty to be destroyed by any institution.”

Coalition government partner Awami National Party’s president Asfandyar Wali announced his party’s “one hundred per cent” agreement with the opposition leader and said: “As parliamentarians, it is our duty that no individual or institution be allowed to subvert our parliament.”

He said if the present restraint on a standing committee of the house were tolerated, there could be similar orders in the future about which bill should be passed and which should not be passed.

Mr Sherpao also supported Chaudhry Nisar’s viewpoint and said such orders could erode the sanctity of parliament.

But MQM’s Wasim Akhar said his party had reservations about the issue of additional marks given to Justice Dogar’s daughter because somewhat similar charges were made in the past about the posting of a son of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and about the wards of some parliament members.

Babar Awan said the PPP’s 40 years’ history was an evidence of the party’s commitment to supremacy of parliament and assured the house that there was no question of blocking the standing committee proceedings.