Date:13/02/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/02/13/stories/2003021304361100.htm

National

U.N. consent must for action against Iraq: India

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI Feb. 12. Any unilateral attack by the United States on Iraq will be viewed with considerable concern by India, which remains convinced that military action, if any, must take place with the consent of the United Nations.

India sticks to the position it has adopted in recent months that the U.N. Security Council is the correct forum to decide on what is to be done with Iraq.

According to informed sources, the Government will have to come out with a public response to any unilateral attack by the American "coalition of the willing'' against Iraq.

The sources point out that the Left parties have already taken to the streets and even the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief has spoken out against any attack on Iraq. Given such a situation, India will have to respond to these concerns.

New Delhi is keenly watching the Iraq developments — the differences on the issue between the U.S. and France and Germany — and the report to be presented to the U.N. Security Council by Hans Blix, chief weapons inspector, on Friday.

The view here is that whatever Mr. Blix says will be of paramount importance to the future course to be adopted by the U.N. Security Council on the Iraq front. Public opinion in Europe, including that in the United Kingdom, was not in favour of a unilateral American attack on Iraq. India is also concerned about the strategic implications of an attack on Iraq and believes that not all of them can be anticipated immediately.

Apart from an increase in oil prices, the sources do not rule out the possibility of a break-up of Iraq. If the U.S. establishes a full-fledged democratic regime in a post-Saddam Hussein scenario, then the impact on neighbouring, non-democratic regimes will be significant.

The territorial integrity of Iraq, they believe, could be affected in case an unstable regime takes power in the aftermath of military action. The Indian position on Iraq — the preference for the U.N. route — was spelt out when the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, was in New York for the U.N. General Assembly session last September.

In response to a question whether India would throw open its bases and military facilities to Iraq in the event of military action, Mr. Vajpayee had said that the question did not arise. The sources are not unaware that the U.S. would like unstinted and unqualified Indian support for its position on Iraq. However, India continues to stick to its substantive view that the future course on Iraq must be charted by the Security Council.