Tuesday, July 15, 2003
No Indian Troops For Iraq
Our Political Bureau
New Delhi, July 14: India on Monday decided not to send troops to Iraq for now, saying it can consider such a request if it comes from the United Nations (UN).
Reiterating the country's concern for the people of Iraq, external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha said India remains ready to respond to the urgent needs of the Iraqi people for stability, security, political progress and economic reconstruction.
"Were there to be an explicit UN mandate for the purpose, the government of India could consider the deployment of our troops in Iraq," Mr Sinha told mediapersons after a 90-minute meeting of Cabinet committee on security (CCS) which discussed the issue.
"It is a sensible decision to finally not send troops to Iraq considering the situation that has developed where a guerilla warfare is being waged against the coalition forces," said Capt (retd) Bharat Verma, editor, Indian Defence Review, when asked for his reaction.
Capt Verma said the falsification of intelligence dossiers on weapons of mass destruction has caused agitation in public's mind against President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. "Under these circumstances it would have been a great folly to commit our troops to strengthen the illegal occupation by the coalition forces."
The government's decision to act only under the UN mandate came in for criticism from former ambassador to US Naresh Chandra. "India has to be clear in what kind of role it wants to play in the region. The present situation in Iraq should be kept under constant review and we should not lay down laws against ourselves." Adding, India is becoming a mature power, therefore having too many rules is unnecessarily limiting our options.
According to Capt Verma, New Delhi enjoys enormous goodwill in largely Islamic central, East and West Asia besides EU and America. "Therefore, in this unfolding geo-political reality, it is not worth our while to send troops to Iraq on many counts."
Today's development is significant against the backdrop of a 25-member governing council being set up in Iraq. The decision comes after a US request that India send troops to Iraq as part of stabilisation process.
"The government of India is ready to contribute to the restoration of infrastructure, medical, health, educational, communication and other civilian needs of the Iraqi people," said a government statement.
"As a concrete gesture of our support to the Iraqi people, we are already planning to set up, jointly with Jordan, a hospital in Najaf in Iraq."
Stating that the decision was arrived at after taking into consideration the long-term national interest, Mr Sinha said, "Our concern for the people of Iraq, our long-standing ties with the Gulf region as a whole as well as our growing dialogue and strengthened ties with the US have been key elements in this consideration."
The CCS meeting was presided overby Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and attended by deputy Prime minister LK Advani, Mr Sinha, defence minister George Fernandes, finance minister Jaswant Singh, planning commission deputy chairman KC Pant and national security advisor Brajesh Mishra.
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