WASHINGTON, March 6: President Pervez Musharraf confessed on Thursday he wished his country had not been elected to the UN Security Council, as he wrestles with a dilemma of how to vote on war with Iraq.

Gen Musharraf is torn between support for his anti-terror ally, the United States, and the knowledge that a decision to back war against a fellow Muslim nation could unleash a torrent of domestic criticism.

“One keeps saying in Pakistan that we were very happy when we were elected a member of the Security Council,” Gen Musharraf said in an interview with ABC television.

“But now we really are thinking whether we should have been happy. This is not really a moment where we should have been members of the Security Council, to be in such a difficult position.”

Gen Musharraf declined to say exactly what position Pakistan would take, as the United States and Britain push a new resolution that could pave the way to war with Iraq.—AFP