KARACHI, Feb 9: Pakistan should take a serious note of the developments in West Asia as American war on Iraq would have far-reaching implications for the country.

This was stated by noted security analyst, Major-Gen (retired) Ghulam Umar, while speaking on “Iraq-US Crisis: Implications for Pakistan” at the department of International Relations, University of Karachi, under its Programme on Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution.

Gen Umar referred to various reasons due to which the US has been adamant to attack Iraq. He said that control of oil reserves, creation of an unchallenged Israeli power and keeping the Middle East under control in order to contain the influence of China and other emerging powers in the region were some of the reasons.

He said that the US had achieved its one objective by deploying such a large army in the region. For a country like Iraq, he added, such a massive troops build-up was certainly not needed.

He said that as Pakistan is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, there are three alternatives for it in case of a decision: to support the US; to oppose it or to abstain from voting.

However, he said, Pakistan was not in a position to abstain, while it will not lose anything by casting vote against the war.

He said that there was a possibility that the US attack on Iraq might lead to internal political instability in Pakistan and serious economic implications.

Dr Moonis Ahmar of the department introduced the guest speaker.