"Unilateralism on the Iraq issue would result in the United Nations being deeply scarred with disastrous consequences for the world order," Vajpayee

By IOL South Asia Correspondent

NEW DELHI, March 13 (IslamOnline.net) -  In a marked shift from its stated position, India seems to be covertly supporting the United States in its looming military aggression against Iraq. However, the Indian government is still keeping an ambitious tone on the crisis.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made a statement in Parliament Wednesday, March 12, expressing grave concern and opposition to any "unilateral military action" against Iraq.

"Unilateralism on the Iraq issue would result in the United Nations being deeply scarred with disastrous consequences for the world order. The Government of India would strongly urge that no military action be taken, which does not have the collective concurrence of the international community," Vajpayee said.

"The international community must take a very careful look both at the objective of achieving Iraq's full compliance with U.N. resolutions and at the means adopted to reach this goal.

"This can be best achieved by a collective decision through the U.N. If permitting more time and formulation of clearer criteria can facilitate a decision within the U.N. framework, we believe this option should be given a chance," the Prime Minister urged.

"Wrong"

Vajpayee strongly opposed any move to change a country's regime by an outside force and said India has drawn up contingency plans to deal with any eventuality.

Replying to clarifications from Opposition leaders on reports that the United States wanted to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Vajpayee said "Governments should be changed by the people and established by them. Force should be allowed to change a regime."

"Use of external force by a superpower to change a regime will be wrong and this should not be supported," the Prime Minister said.

For quite sometime, the United States had been trying to bring India around to support its proposed military action against Iraq. In the process it has offered India a role in post-Saddam Iraq.

President George W. Bush recently talked to the Prime Minister over telephone and is believed to have assured him of India's vital role in the " economic reconstruction" of Iraq in the post-war phase.

The US Ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, in an interview to prominent daily The Times of India, Tuesday, March 11, said, " We hope that India has a major part to play and we have conveyed that at very high levels."

"India, with its very well-developed successful norms in civil society, had a role to play in the construction of civil society in Iraq and economic reconstruction. India had a comparative advantage over many countries because of three factors: its vital civil society, its long term ties with Iraq and the fact that India would be welcomed in that situation where not every country would be welcomed," Blackwill told the daily.

However, another reputed newspaper The Asian Age, went today a step further and exposed India's double standards on the issue.

"Neutral"

The daily pointed out that India had finally given in to the intense U.S. pressure and was unlikely to provide a steadfast support to Iraq in the event of unilateral U.S. action.

India has so far claimed to maintain " neutral stand" on the issue saying it enjoyed good relations with both countries.

The Asian Age, Wednesday, March 12, reported that India and the United States "have reached an unofficial agreement on Iraq wherein Washington can be assured there will be no opposition from New Delhi in case of a war without United Nations' sanction.

"This has been conveyed to Washington by senior leaders in the government who have been in close touch with U.S. interlocutors and are determined to express their solidarity by opposing a parliamentary resolution against a war action on Iraq," read the paper.

"The initial reluctance by the government to support the U.S. arguments has been effectively worn down by Washington through a series of high-level visits over the past several months. The BJP-led government has decided that it will one, oppose the war in principle, two, advocate a UN route, and three, guard its own interests if and when the war does break out," said the paper.

"India has been assured that its oil interests in the region will be protected with the Bush administration and strategic advisers to the government insisting on the wisdom of keeping several options in the American basket rather than sinking all through a misconceived support for Iraq and peace," it added.

"Better Sense"

The Indian government' s stand on the issue dismayed the opposition parties. They alleged the federal government is not coming clean on the issue. It had not been forthcoming in making a clear-cut statement that it is opposed to a war on Iraq and would like the weapons inspectors to be given more time.

The Congress stated that the U.S. as the sole power has created an exceptionally grave situation on Iraq and that only the people of a country (Iraq) have a right to effect regime change.

Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi expressed these views at the all-party meeting held on Monday when she said "We can think of no similar crisis in the last 55 years. Even at this late hour, we hope that better sense would prevail and the international community in its collective wisdom as represented by the U.N. Security Council will be able to bring about peaceful disarmament of Iraq without recourse to war."

Congress Party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy said on Tuesday that the Congress was opposed to war without U.N. mandate as it would weaken the UN.

The government has also stated that it seeks peaceful resolution of the conflict. However, the party refused to condemn the U.S. actions.

The federal government's stated position to give a "principled support" to Iraq remains doubtful.

In an all-party meeting held on Monday, March 10, to discuss the Iraq crisis, Prime Minister Vajpayee made it clear that his government would not support any anti-war resolution in the Indian parliament, which the opposition parties reportedly pressed for.

The Prime Minister said that the U.S. and Iraq were friends of India, and the government would not like to antagonize either at this stage.

During the all-party meeting, at one stage the opposition parties tried to corner the federal foreign minister Yashwant Sinha when he said " Iraq is not blameless, it waged a war against Kuwait."

However, parliamentarian and Communist Party leader Somnath Chaterjee, countered Sinha and asked " Does this mean that a war against Iraq is justified? Are you supporting it?" This sent the minister into silence thereby indicating the federal government's ambiguous stand on the issue.

Sanctions

Meanwhile, reports from Washington said the U.S. slapped sanctions on Indian company Protech Consultants Pvt Ltd for " knowingly and materially contributing to Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program."

The penalties entail a ban on any contracts with the U.S. and ban on the approval of licenses to import American goods. The sanctions, however, do not extend to the company's country.

"We do not see this issue as having an impact on U.S. relations with India as we cooperate and work with the government because of our common desire to halt proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday.

In yet another development, Indian shipping companies expressed fears that war surcharge would be imposed in the case of a conflict.

An official of a top insurance company said the final decision has not been taken, but in case the war breaks out there may be an imposition of a war surcharge. This will be limited to the ships which may be heading towards the Gulf or may pass through the war zone, he said.

A Indian navy official said that in the event of the war, the merchant fleet coming to India or leaving Indian ports would be guided by Indian naval ships.

Meanwhile India has advised its nationals in Iraq to leave that country. Due to the imminent threat of war, Prime Minister Vajpayee has canceled his scheduled visit to Syria and foreign minister Sinha has canceled his visit to a number of European countries.