Indians denounce U.S. occupation of Iraq

By IOL South Asia Correspondent

NEW DELHI, March 22 (IslamOnline.net) - Hours before a crucial meeting of leaders of all political parties Saturday, March 22, the mood in the Indian capital was one of resentment against the unprovoked and unjustifiable aggression against Iraq.

However, the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to discuss the Iraq crises failed to agree on a joint resolution. The Vajpayee government has rejected Opposition charge that it was hesitating to directly condemn the U.S. for the military action.

"There was no consensus on the formulation" for such a resolution, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters after a two-hour meeting attended by leaders of the Indian political parties including Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi.

While the Opposition insisted on using the word "condemn" for the military action by United States and its allies, the Government did not favor it, leaders of various political leaders said later.

The Prime Minister, who summed up the discussions, clearly stated that India saw no justification for this military action and that the war was avoidable, Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said.

Vajpayee made it clear that "there was no question of endorsing the military action which has been started against Iraq", Sinha said adding that "Government of India is not in favor of war. So it is not in favor of continuation of war…the humanitarian issue including the suffering of the Iraqi people "is something which has caused deep anguish to us and others".

Later dozens of prominent opposition leaders, including RJD Party chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and Communist Party (Marxist) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, today courted arrest after staging a demonstration close to the US embassy here against the American attack on Iraq. As usual, the leaders were released soon afterwards.

Laloo Prasad, a former chief minister of the state of Bihar, later told media persons that "the Vajpayee government was afraid of the US and therefore did not want to condemn the American attack against Iraq".

The demonstration was held as a part of a call given by Left-backed central trade unions and some opposition parties to launch massive protests all over the country to demand immediate halt to the war and ask the Government to unambiguously condemn the U.S. occupation.

Even as the federal government continued to take a “balanced” stance, political parties across the spectrum were convinced that the U.S. aggression was one of a piece with its earlier attacks on Korea, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Granada and Panama, to name a few.

India as a country had invariably objected to these acts in the past. Even the present federal government, the softest ever on the U.S., could not bring itself round to accepting the unjustified war.

When President George W. Bush called Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee Thursday, March 20, Vajpayee made it clear that India did not think the sidelining of the UN was proper. Although he refrained from criticizing the U.S., Vajpayee did not endorse the attack either.

People close to the federal government feel this is the utmost that India can do. In a situation when seven Arab neighbors of Iraq are allowing U.S. air bases in their countries for attacks on Iraq, India can’t be expected to catch the bull by the horn, they said.

All Iraq's neighbors, except Syria, are providing logistic support to the U.S. forces, observers said. Former diplomat G Parthasarthy, an influential foreign policy analyst of the Establishment, said that even the U.S. Central Command of General Franks was operating from the Gulf.

Because of the uncertainty in the Arab countries themselves, India may not like to put its growing ties with the US and Israel at risk. Thursday’s call from Bush to Vajpayee was the second in a week. The U.S. seems to understand India’s position well and has not been pressing for more.

However, opposition political parties may not be as circumspect. Sonia Gandhi, president of the largest and oldest political party in India, Congress, minced no words when she said Friday, March 21, that the Iraq war could cause irreversible harm to the UN, the rule of international law, and fraternity of nations.

Expressing solidarity with Iraq’s people, she said they were being penalized for no fault of theirs. Gandhi, who was speaking at the fourth Rajiv Gandhi Environment Lecture in New Delhi, said, “Such a war, flying in the face of world public opinion and against the wishes of a majority of governments, will affect not just our physical environment, but has gravely damaged the foundations of orderly international life.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian president’s special envoy Ali Akbar Vilayati brought a letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from President Mohammad Khatami Friday, March 21. The Foreign Office here did not divulge the contents of the letter but said it was regarding the Iraq crisis.

Vilayati, a former foreign minister of Iran, had talks with the prime minister. He also met foreign minister Yashwant Sinha to exchange views on the Iraq situation.

Vailayati was in Pakistan Friday, March 21, and met President Pervez Musharraf. Iran is said to be perturbed over the prospect of a pro-U.S. regime in Iraq after Saddam Hussein, with whom it never saw eye to eye. Iran which is Evil No.2 in US scheme of things (after Iraq), is not happy about the developments in the neighborhood.