No troops for Iraq without explicit U.N. mandate: India

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No troops for Iraq without explicit U.N. mandate: India

By Amit Baruah

PTI

The External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, addressing the media outside the residence of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI July 14. India today formally decided not to send its troops to Iraq under the American and British command. As expected, the Cabinet Committee on Security considered the issue and politely declined the request of the United States.

After a 90-minute CCS meeting at the Prime Minister's residence, the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said: "The Government of India has given careful thought to the question of sending Indian troops to Iraq... were there to be an explicit U.N. (United Nations) mandate for the purpose, the Government of India could consider the deployment of our troops in Iraq."

In essence, the decision makes it clear that if there is an explicit U.N. mandate in the form of a clear Security Council resolution, then New Delhi could consider the deployment of Indian troops in Iraq; not otherwise.

The CCS meeting was presided over by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and attended by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, the Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant, the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, as well as Mr. Sinha.

Official sources said that just before Mr. Sinha read out a prepared statement on the troops issue, Mr. Mishra telephoned the U.S. Ambassador, Robert Blackwill, and conveyed the Government's decision not to deploy troops.

Mr. Sinha said: "Our longer-term national interest, 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 U.S. have been key elements in this consideration (of the American request)."

"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 U.N. mandate for the purpose, the Government of India could consider the deployment of troops in Iraq.

"In the meanwhile, Government of India is ready to contribute to the restoration of infrastructure, medical, health, educational, communications and other civilian needs of the Iraqi people. 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," the statement added.

Official sources explained the phrase "in the meanwhile" as indicating that India would do everything possible to help the people of Iraq between now and the possible enactment of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the deployment of troops. The Government was "correct" in formally conveying the decision not to deploy troops under the present conditions to the U.S. Ambassador before the "news" became public knowledge.

The CCS decision comes exactly a week before the monsoon session of Parliament gets under way. With this, the Vajpayee Government will be in a position to fend off any criticism from the Opposition on the Iraq troops' issue. The principal Opposition party, Congress, had made it clear that it would raise this issue in Parliament. Some constituent members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance were also against the deployment of Indian troops.

The first public indication that the Government might say "no" to the American request came from the Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, when he said in Washington that there were "grey" areas and "unresolved ambiguities" in the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483.

The sources made it clear that domestic political considerations were the key factor that determined the Government's decision. The U.S., too, had requested the Government of India to decide one way or the other its request to deploy the troops.

Ties will continue: U.S.

In a related development, a U.S. Embassy spokesman stated: "As we have said before, this was a decision for the Government of India to make... while we had hoped India would take a different decision, the transformation of U.S.-India relations will continue as before. India remains an important strategic partner for the U.S."

Separately, the Foreign Office spokesman welcomed the formation of a new "governing council" in Iraq.

He maintained that this was a positive development that marked the first stage in the involvement of the Iraqi people in their affairs as envisaged by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483. The spokesman said New Delhi had "noted" that this "governing council" did not just have advisory functions, but had executive authority as well.

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