Pakistanis seek expulsion of U.S. ambassador

[sonz]

Lawmakers in northwest Pakistan called for the expulsion of the American ambassador in response to a deadly U.S. air strike that killed 18 civilians, AFP reported on Monday.

In a unanimous resolution, the assembly of North West Frontier Province demanded the government to seek a UN Security Council condemnation of the U.S. strike and an official apology from Washington.

"We demand the federal government declare U.S. ambassador in Pakistan a persona non grata over the missile attack, which the American forces carried out in Bajur where innocent civilians were killed," the resolution said.

However, the resolution was unlikely to move the Pakistani government to accept such demands.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said that the government would neither expel U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker nor seek any apology from Washington.

"I have no comment on the resolution," Aslam said. "We have not sought an apology, but we have made it very clear to the U.S. authorities that security inside Pakistan is the Government of Pakistan's business."

The Jan. 13 attack on the village of Damadola, in the Bajur tribal region near the Afghan border, caused widespread outrage in Pakistan, and triggered massive anti-U.S. protests across the country.

American officials claimed that they targeted a gathering of AL-QAEDA leaders, including OSAMA BIN LADEN's deputy AYMAN AL-ZAWAHRI, but Pakistan's Prime Minister disputed that account.

"We have not found one body, or one shred of evidence that these people were there," Shawkat Aziz told CNN, insisting that the Pakistani government didn’t support the U.S. strike and that Washington failed to inform Pakistani officials of the attack.

In a separate development, Pakistani security forces stopped a convoy of more than 2,000 protesters heading to the Bajur tribal region to protest the CIA strike.

The demonstrators at first insisted that the convoy be allowed to continue, chanting slogans against Washington and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a strong U.S. ally. But the group eventually returned to where it came from.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan addressed a crowd of opposition supporters after their delegation was turned back, saying the deadly U.S. strike had united the opposition.

"If this unity prevails, we will also remove Musharraf," he said.