ISLAMABAD, July 31: Pakistan has decided in principle not to send its troops to Iraq even if formally asked by the United Nations or the Iraqi interim government, reliable political sources told Dawn on Saturday.

The ruling circles of the capital are in a state of shock over the unfortunate death of two Pakistani nationals at the hands of militants in Iraq.

The issue of sending troops to Iraq was discussed between Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and President General Pervez Musharraf before the former's departure for Saudi Arabia.

The premier conveyed the sentiments of President Musharraf to the Saudi leadership during his meetings and later informed him (the president) on his return home about the Saudi reaction.

The reason for deciding finally not to send the troops, the sources said, was based on the popular sentiment of the people who feel being troops of a Muslim country, the Pakistani soldiers should not be put into a situation where they were likely to confront the citizens of another Muslim country.

The government has also conveyed its decision in principle and taken most of the mainstream opposition parties, including religio-political ones, into confidence over the issue.

A strategy has been evolved to give the message to the outside world that since no consensus is possible on the question of sending troops the government is not in a position to oblige the US and its allies.

Under the strategy, the opposition has been encouraged to keep up the pressure on the authorities and a number of opposition leaders have started a regular campaign against the idea of sending troops to Iraq.

It is said to be under the same strategy that the government and the opposition passed a joint resolution in the National Assembly calling for a consensus before taking any decision on sending troops to Iraq.

It is also learnt that an official announcement to the effect that Pakistan will not be sending its troops to Iraq will, however, be delayed till the 'last minute'.

It is also significant that the coalition parliamentary party under the presidentship of Prime Minister Shujaat did not touch the issue of Iraq on Friday despite the fact that two Pakistanis had just been murdered by the militants. The ruling coalition discussed only legislative business during the Friday meeting.

Pakistan is, however, not ready to disappoint the US with its outright announcement and will try to buy time by simply announcing that the issue would be debated in detail in the next session of parliament for creating a national consensus on the matter.

The sources, who did not want to be named, said Pakistan had been under a tremendous pressure from the US-led allied forces for troops but it had, so far, not been cowed down. The pressure is said to have increased after the installation of an interim government in Baghdad.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had visited Islamabad with a clear message recently and received a positive nod from Islamabad to the extent that the issue would be considered once Shaukat Aziz was installed as new prime minister.

However, subsequent events are said to have forced President Musharraf, his military and civil top aides and Prime Minister Shujaat to reopen the issue and discuss it among themselves a number of times during last one week.

Other sources said the government was close to issuing a categorical declaration that it did not intend to send its troops but the killing of two innocent Pakistani workers in Iraq delayed the announcement as the government thought it would have been seen as succumbing to the pressure of the militants.

According to the sources, the government remained in the dark about the real intentions of the captors of two Pakistanis since they had not issued any deadline along with their ultimatum.