Pakistan has termed the US-led attack against Iraq as 'deplorable' and joined France and Germany to ask the United Nations to take a fresh initiative to defuse the crisis.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and French and German Ambassadors to Islamabad, Yannick Gerard and Christoph Brummer respectively, condemned the war in Iraq at a function in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Kasuri said, "We believe that the United Nations must continue to play an important role in the current crisis in Iraq. We need to address urgently the gathering storm of a humanitarian crisis."

Kasuri was the guest of honour at the 40th anniversary of the Elysee German-French Treaty reception hosted by the French and German Ambassadors.

Kasuri said the UN has not lost its mooring and it must uphold international legality and do so on a non-selective basis.

Kasuri said in recent days he held numerous telephonic talks with his French and German counterparts, Dominique de Villepin and Joscka Fisher respectively, in the backdrop of the current crisis in Iraq.

"Pakistan and Germany are committed to promoting multilateralism, international law and world peace," he said.