The Hindu : No decision on sending troops: Sinha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 09, 2003

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No decision on sending troops: Sinha

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI July 8. The External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said today that no decision had been taken by the Government on sending Indian troops to Iraq. Responding to queries raised at a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry, Mr. Sinha said that "all factors'' would be taken into account before taking any decision.

Briefing presspersons, the Foreign Office spokesman said MPs, cutting across party lines, welcomed the recent visit of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to China. Mr. Sinha told members that the Special Representatives appointed by the two Governments to provide a political context to the boundary issue were expected to begin work in the near future.

Mr. Sinha said there was "no change'' in India's position on Tibet and the presence of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan refugees in the country. He quoted the Prime Minister's statement in Beijing that the road to rapprochement with China was a long one, but a good beginning had been made.

The twin objectives of engaging the new Chinese leadership and diversifying cooperation between the two countries had also been fulfilled. The External Affairs Minister specifically referred to the creation of a Joint Study Group (JSG) to recommend measures to expand economic cooperation between the two countries. The JSG is to submit its report to the two Governments in the next 12 months.

In another development, the Foreign Office said an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter contingent was being sent as part of the U.N. peace-keeping mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

``India's decision to send this specialised contingent of over 300 personnel underlines its continuing commitment to the Charter and the principles of the U.N. and to peace-keeping as an invaluable instrument for the maintenance of international peace and security.'' The Foreign Office said in a statement that this was the largest contingent that the IAF had ever sent for a U.N. mission.

``The decision to send the contingent was taken with the intent of assisting the U.N. in restoring peace and security in the strife-torn region of eastern DRC...now troops from countries such as South Africa, Uruguay and Ghana are positioned in Congo.''

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