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India looking for larger role in Iraq

By Amit Baruah

BERLIN May 27. The United States has raised the issue of India sending troops to Iraq in the past one month but has not put forward any specific proposal.

India is unclear on ``how long'' its troops will be required to serve under the American-British ``authority'' in Iraq and feels ``no pressure'' to commit military personnel to Baghdad.

Official sources told this correspondent that there were ``no divisions'' within the Cabinet Committee on Security that met to discuss this issue in New Delhi on Monday. ``There is no truth in reports in a section of the press that opinion was divided within the CCS,'' they said.

The sources said that India also wanted to know whether it would have a role for itself beyond the issue of simply deploying troops. ``We also want to know who will foot the bill in the case of deployment of troops,'' the sources said.

Indian troops had never served outside the United Nations chain of command — a fact that is well-known both outside and inside the Government. On the issue of paying the bill, the sources made it clear that Indian troops could not be seen as ``mercenaries''.

It was also explained that India did not have to confine itself simply to the question of deploying troops. ``Depending on the shape of things on the ground, India can play a larger role'' as the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483 also envisaged the reform of political institutions and the general reconstruction of the country.

Asked about the April 8 Parliamentary resolution that found the American military action against Iraq unacceptable and called for a speedy withdrawal of the coalition troops, the sources did not see the resolution as a bar to sending troops to Iraq, a point that was made by the Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, in New Delhi on Monday.

Clearly, India does not want to be seen as ``not responding'' to the U.S. on the issue of sending troops to Iraq given the fact that Washington is keenly interested in it. The Iraq ``project'' has been one in which the U.S. President, George W. Bush, himself is keenly interested.

Also, New Delhi is aware that Pakistan has been playing a key role in tackling the Al-Qaeda elements within its territory and has handed over several wanted persons to Washington. For obvious reasons, India has not been able to offer a similar cooperative role to the U.S.

In Iraq, there is an ``opportunity'' to work together with the U.S., but the command issue is clearly a ticklish one as far as deployment of troops is concerned. Though Iraq has shifted from the ``news map'' of the world, the lack of justification for the war has become more not less given the fact that no weapons of mass destruction has been found in the country.

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