Create a index.php like page template

Hi to all,
i need to create a page template that works like the index.php.
I need to have all catgory posts, with pagination (< previous | next >). If i put hte code of index.php in a template, the query don’t work (i think that there is not a query at all).
If, instead, I make a query that extract all the posts from some choosed category the pagination don’t work. The links NEXT and PREV are shown, but the pages estract alwais the last n posts.
What can i do?

Thanks and sorry for my bad english.