The Hindu : BJP calls it 'unjustified war'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 05, 2003

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BJP calls it 'unjustified war'

By Neena Vyas

INDORE APRIL 4. The Bharatiya Janata Party today abandoned its Government's "middle-path" on the Iraq war. The party's national executive committee unanimously adopted a resolution squarely blaming the United States, Britain and the allies for launching an "unjustified war" and causing a grave humanitarian crisis.

Deploring the assault on Iraq and its people, the party called for an "immediate end" to the war and demanded that a peaceful, political solution be sought within the framework of the United Nations.

The one-page resolution was adopted this morning in the presence of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, and the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, who was in the chair. While the "seniors" in the party did not speak on the resolution, no one was left in doubt that it had been "cleared" at the very top.

There was not much of an explanation why the Government had been shy to "name" the U.S. and its other allies earlier. But it was said that the situation on the ground had been changing by the day.

The thousands of civilian casualties in the war and the trampling of the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq were factors that led the BJP to rethink its position.

In addition, it was felt, and stated in the resolution, that the Iraq crisis was diluting the global war against terrorism with clear evidence of "double standards" being used in the campaign.

It was in Pakistan, "the epicentre of terrorism", that "the most serious manifestation of a nexus between authoritarian rule, weapons of mass destruction, drug-trafficking and terrorism flourish," the resolution stated.

The recent gruesome murder of Kashmiri Pandits in Nadimarg was an example of how the Iraq crisis was being used by patrons of terrorism (Pakistan) to advance their goal of spreading conflict and violence in India.

Apparently, even this strongly-worded resolution was marginally diluted by removing the words "strongly condemn ... the United States,'' a senior party functionary said.

But even in its final form the resolution "deplored" the military action of the U.S. and its allies, it demanded that a solution be found within the U.N. framework, it pointed out that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq must be preserved, and reiterated that the people of Iraq alone had the right to determine their political future and exercise full control over their natural resources.

In short, it rubbished the "regime change" Bush-Blair doctrine.

Apparently, even the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, said that Iraq crisis was not an issue of the religious identity of that country.

The American "arrogance of power" was seen as equally hateful.

"It was a choice between `sanpnath' and `nagnath','' a senior party leader said — a choice between two deadly species of snakes.

Expressing anguish over the plight of the Iraqi people, the party called for speedy relief through humanitarian aid from the international community.

The resolution was moved by the general secretary, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and some of the key speakers in the discussion were Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Ram Naik and Ravi Prasad.

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