The Hindu : India opposed to unilateral action against Iraq

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 18, 2002

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International

India opposed to unilateral action against Iraq

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Oct. 17. While India recognises the desire of the international community to see that Iraq complied fully with all relevant United Nations Resolutions, "such a desire cannot, however, justify any unilateral action on Iraq, without the agreement of the U.N.'', India's Permanent Representative to the world body. V.K. Nambiar, has said.

"We are of the view that given the current configuration of circumstances, any undermining of the territorial integrity of Iraq could have unforeseen and destructive geo-political implications. This could extend even beyond the region'', he told the Security Council today.

He made it clear that India would support a process that laid down fresh guidelines for weapons inspectors getting into Iraq, but cautioned that it would have to reflect the objective of the exercise, i.e. to achieve disarmament.

Mr. Nambiar warned that some of the proposals seemed to be unprecedented and could detract attention away from the task on hand.

"We believe that conditions attached to any new resolutions or the modalities of their implementation should not be such as to make them unworkable or effectively invite their rejection''.

While there may be a rationale for a tightened weapons inspections regime, there was also the case for creating an "enabling environment'' for compliance.

India believed that sanctions against Iraq should be lifted in tandem with full and effective compliance and that the punitive measures should not have any adverse impact on the lives of ordinary Iraq citizens.

"It is therefore of the utmost importance that all possible alternatives that can help avoid recourse to military action be actively explored under U.N.auspices... .There should be no precipitate action that adversely affected the interests of the countries of the region as well as those of countries who had vital stakes in the region'', Mr. Nambiar said.

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India opposed to unilateral action against Iraq