KARACHI, Oct 13: Pakistan will maintain its critical role in the US-led war against terrorism despite the surprise election of anti-US religious parties to the new parliament, Information Minister Nisar Memon said on Sunday.

“I don’t see any change in the foreign policy as far as war against terrorism is concerned,” Nisar Memon told a press conference here.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six religious parties, opposed to the US campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, have secured 45 of the National Assembly’s 272 general seats.

With 45 seats, the MMA holds the balance of power in the National Assembly, where no single party has won a clear majority, casting doubts over the future of Pakistan’s key logistical support of the campaign to crush the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Nisar Memon said the MMA’s king-maker role will not affect Pakistan’s foreign policy.

“No single party alone is in a position to form a government including the MMA,” the minister said.

Memon said fears about the future of Pakistan’s alliance with the US in the terror crackdown were unnecessary.

“The world, particularly the Western counties and media, must understand that the MMA is a coalition of religious parties, not of fundamentalist or militant parties,” he said.

The MMA chief, Shah Ahmed Noorani, said the religious parties would only coalesce with parties which supported their manifesto.

“I will call a meeting of MMA heads next week in which we will consider all options,” Noorani told AFP.

“But we will only support those parties which will guarantee the implementation of our manifesto.”

Noorani said the MMA was in favour of better relations with the US, “but not at the cost of our sovereignty.”

The war against terrorism should not be a war against Islam and Muslims, he added.

“Terrorism should be condemned in all forms, but the war against it should not be selective,” Noorani said.

He condemned the US for its “silence over the genocide of Palestinians and Kashmiris while being vocal against Iraq’s President Saddam Hussain and the Taliban.”