HindustanTimes.com

Tuesday, April 8, 2003

Parliament deplores US-led military action in Iraq

Liz Mathew (Indo-Asian News Service)
New Delhi, April 8

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday deplored the US-led war on Iraq after two days of
bitter wrangling over how the resolution should be worded.

"Expressing sentiments of the country, this house deplores the military
action against the sovereign state of Iraq by the coalition forces led by
America. This military action aimed at changing of power in Iraq is not
acceptable," said the consensus resolution finalised after two all-party
meetings with Speaker Manohar Joshi in the chair.

The resolution also named the US, something on which the government had
earlier not been agreeable to, and called for an immediate end to the war
and withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq.

"The house also demands the UN ensures that the sovereignty of Iraq will be
maintained and the reconstruction work will be under the UN supervision,"
the resolution said.

"The sufferings of innocent people of Iraq, particularly women and children,
are serious humanitarian matters. This action has been carried out without
the permission of the UN and against the UN charter. This house, therefore,
expresses deep anguish and deep sympathy to the people of Iraq," the
resolution said.

"This house expresses satisfaction that India has decided to give Rs 100
crores and 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat as appealed by the UN for Iraq.
This house expects more assistance be given if need arises."

The resolution will also be tabled in the Rajya Sabha for its approval.

However, the Hindi language used in the resolution left it open to different
interpretations.

The government insisted the war in Iraq had been deplored. The Opposition
maintained it had been condemned.

The differences in interpretation arose because the Lok Sabha adopted the
resolution that used the word "ninda" to describe the US action. "Ninda" is
a word that can be variously interpreted to mean criticise, deplore or
condemn.

Since Monday, when the Lok Sabha resumed its session after a three-week
recess, the opposition had been insisting the US invasion be condemned. The
government was willing to only deplore the action.

Speaker Joshi had convened an all-party meeting on Monday evening to bring
about agreement on the language of the resolution after the opposition
stalled the proceedings for the entire day. No agreement was reached and
Joshi called another meeting on the issue on Tuesday morning.

Speaking during the debate on the resolution, Congress leader S Jaipal Reddy
said it was being moved under the "lengthening shadow of the strangest kind
of militaristic unilateralism".

According to Reddy, the goodwill and sympathy that the US had gained after
9/11 had been transformed into universal ill will and antipathy. "The US is
becoming disturbingly imperialistic. It behaves like a hyper power."

Somnath Chatterjee of the CPI-M said it was unfortunate some countries had
taken on the role of supervising other nations.

"The right of pre-emptive strike is being propagated which is very
dangerous," Chatterjee warned.

© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2002.
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