NATO has asked the Pakistan government to decide whether its 1000-strong troops engaged in relief operations in the quake-hit areas of the country should stay or leave in view of the mounting opposition from Islamic parties on their presence.

The military alliance's 90-day period of stay will end early next year.

"I met the additional foreign secretary at Pakistan Foreign Office and raised this issue because if we have to leave, we will need enough time so that our personnel can pack up," NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Mauritis Jochems, who is on a brief visit to Pakistan from Brussels, told reporters on Tuesday.

"It took us four weeks to come to Pakistan and we will need as much time if we have to move. We do not want to create a vacuum when we leave and we are exploring options of whom to hand over to - perhaps to the Pakistan Army or the Red Crescent," Andrew Walton, commander of NATO's disaster response team was quoted in The News as saying.

Pakistan's Islamic alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal had strongly criticised Pakistan government for inviting NATO and US troops to take part in the relief operations saying they will not leave in the near future.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan [Images] too had flayed the NATO deployment.

"As an ambassador, this worries me. We will leave Pakistan as soon as it asks us to," Jochems said.

Currently the NATO team operates from Bagh, a small town close to the LOC, which was destroyed in the Oct 8 earthquake.

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