Date:05/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/05/stories/2005120506751400.htm

National

Part of a game plan: Bhim Singh

Luv Puri

Foreign forces out to destabilise United Progressive Alliance Government

Bhim Singh

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh alleged on Sunday that in the garb of the Volcker issue foreign forces were out to destabilise the United Progressive Alliance Government. Mr. Bhim Singh was named a `non-contractual beneficiary' in Volcker Committee Report on Iraq's Oil-for-Food programme.He said the game was clear, first to oust Natwar Singh and then target Congress president Sonia Gandhi.People should see through this, he told The Hindu .

"An inquiry has already been instituted under Justice R. S. Pathak but the way Natwar Singh is being hounded day and night speaks volumes that bigger forces are behind this. Clearly, Mr. Natwar Singh's open defiance against the Americans on the Iran issue and his open condemnation of Iraq are the reasons to explain this," Mr. Bhim Singh said.

Alleging that it was a part of the American agenda of implicating persons who sympathised with the then Iraqi regime, he said, "We went to Iraq not for getting any money from the Iraqis but my various goodwill tours to Iraq had been self-sponsored to empathise with the people there who were victims of the economic sanctions. The Iraqi Government hardly had any money to give and only our lodging and boarding in Baghdad were taken care of by the Saddam Hussein Government. I was part of the Coordination Committee appointed by Saddam Hussein, constituted for opposing the economic sanctions, but was not given any money for this purpose."

Mr. Bhim Singh alleged that he was being denied visa by the present regime in Iraq where he wanted to go to fight Saddam's case. Sometime back, Mr. Singh constituted an 11-member legal team for fighting Saddam's case.