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| Sunday, 13 June 2004 |
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CPI urge FM to clarify 'ambiguous' Iraq troop comments NEW DELHI, June 11 (AFP) India's Marxists, who are lending key support to the new government, called Friday on Foreign Minister Natwar Singh to clarify his comments that it was too early to rule out sending troops to Iraq. "The Indian Foreign Minister's ambiguous remarks in Washington must be clarified," the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said in a statement. "The ... government must make it clear that there is no question of sending Indian troops to Iraq to bolster the American occupation," it said. Singh, a senior member of the Congress party, which leads the left-leaning government, is in the United States to attend the funeral of former president Ronald Reagan, but established contact with Secretary of State Colin Powell. When asked about the possibility of India sending troops under the UN banner to Iraq, Singh told reporters in Washington: "It is premature for me to say aye or nay." "We are a coalition government, so the matter will have to be discussed by the government and by the cabinet committee on security," the diplomat turned politician added. India's previous Hindu nationalist Indian government, which was ousted by Congress in April/May elections, had opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq and turned down US requests to send troops to Iraq without a clear UN mandate. Congress had gone further and had criticised Atal Behari Vajpayee's government for even considering a troop deployment. The Marxists said in a statement there was "no change in the situation in Iraq whatsoever," and therefore there was no question of reconsidering the issue. The party has 43 MPs in India's 545-member lower house of parliament, and other leftist groups bring up the number of communists to 61, providing crucial outside support to the Congress-led government. |
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