The Hindu : Cong. wants PM to clarify on troops for Iraq

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 06, 2003

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Cong. wants PM to clarify on troops for Iraq

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 5. The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, has written to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, expressing the party's opposition to sending troops to Iraq without the sanctions of the United Nations. ``The Congress will be totally opposed to the deployment of Indian troops under any arrangement other than a U.N. command or as a part of multi-national peacekeeping force, with the explicit mandate of the U.N.,'' Ms. Gandhi has said in the letter.

Drawing Mr. Vajpayee's attention to the fact that in the past Indian troops had served abroad only under the command and control of the U.N., she expressed the fear that ``this fundamental principle may now be abandoned''.

Ms. Gandhi urged the Prime Minister to clarify the Government's stand on the issue. ``We have seen various statements in the past and these have not helped to shed light on the Government's stand,'' she said.

The CPI (ML), in a statement, said that it would oppose any move to send troops to Iraq. ``The move to send troops will place the country as a collaborator of the United States and would be a blatant violation of the resolution passed by Parliament.''

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