ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: The Parliamentary Committee on National Security has declined an offer of the US ambassador to brief it on projects being executed in Pakistan with American economic assistance, saying the committee does not feel there is need for such a briefing at the moment.

Informed sources told Dawn on Wednesday that Ambassador Anne W. Patterson had made the offer in a letter to Mian Raza Rabbani, chairman of the 17-member committee.

The letter made no mention of the war on terror which is the main subject of concern to the committee.

The ambassador said in the letter that she had made a similar offer to other parliamentary committees which provide guidelines to the government on the national security policy.

The committee on security which was formed on the basis of a resolution unanimously adopted by a joint session of the two houses of parliament on October 22, is expected to formulate recommendations for the national security strategy and foreign policy.

A meeting of the committee discussed the letter and most of its members were of the view that the proper forum for such briefings was the Foreign Office. It was said that since the members were aware of what the US was doing there was no need for a briefing by the ambassador.

Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar told reporters after the meeting that contacts between India and Pakistan at the level of Director General Military Operations (DGMO) were continuing and the Indian government had assured Pakistan that it was not planning any military action. “Still we have put our three services on high alert,” he added.He said it had been established that there was no linkage between the Mumbai terror attacks and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).