The Long March

A key meeting of NDA partners, presided over by Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and held at his residence this evening to discuss the US propos...

A key meeting of NDA partners, presided over by Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and held at his residence this evening to discuss the US proposal to send Indian troops to Iraq, failed to reach any decision.

At the end of the nearly-two-hour meeting, it was decided that 8216;8216;keeping in mind India8217;s national interest as well as interests of the Iraqi people, the PM should take an appropriate decision.8217;8217;

Since the PM is leaving for China tomorrow, no early decision on the tricky issue is likely in the next few days. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Defence Minister George Fernandes and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha stated the US had yet to reply to some of the 8216;8216;clarifications8217;8217; sought by India on the whole issue.

These clarifications include questions about 8216;8216;command and control, who will bear the cost and UN role,8217;8217; Fernandes said. The Pentagon team that was here said they would get back on some of India8217;s queries after returning to Washington, Sinha added, but the answers had not yet come.

Although the final decision has been left to the PM, it was clear there is still considerable unease among political parties on a green signal for the troops to go to Iraq, particularly since they had unanimously passed a parliamentary resolution during Gulf War II deploring the US-led coalition forces8217; invasion of Iraq.

Without spelling out India8217;s exact misgivings on the issue, Fernandes and Sinha indicated a crucial problem was the question of 8216;8216;command and control8217;8217; 8212; ie, Indian troops working under the coalition authority or 8216;8216;occupying powers8217;8217; in the UN8217;s terms.

At the outset, Fernandes said the US had proposed a full division of the Indian Army be sent to 8216;8216;stabilise the situation in northern Iraq.8217;8217; It was a sensitive area, flanked by Iran and Turkey on either side and the Kurd-dominated region in the middle.

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In reply to questions, Sinha said at the moment, there was 8216;8216;a clear division of responsibility8217;8217; in Iraq 8212; the task of stabilisation and security was with the 8216;8216;coalition authority8217;8217; while that of rehabilitation, relief et al with the UN. Clearly, then, with Indian troops asked to take on 8216;8216;stabilisation8217;8217; duties, they would be under the overall command of the US-controlled coalition authority rather than the UN.

He said Indian troops had been operating under the UN flag since Korea in the 1950s, but after that a number of models 8212; the Kosovo model, Afghan model, and now the Iraq model 8212; had come up which envisaged different levels of UN role. India is keen that 8216;8216;stabilisation and security8217;8217; too come under UN authorisation rather than US control 8212; and therefore the question of 8216;8216;command and control8217;8217; has to be sorted out before any decision is taken. Asked if the US had promised Indian firms a role in the lucrative reconstruction of Iraq, Sinha retorted: 8216;8216;Getting a part of the Iraqi pie is not our concern. Our own national interest and the interest of the Iraqi people are the only considerations.8217;8217;

Meanwhile, the meeting also decided to send 8216;8216;fact-finding missions8217;8217; to West Bengal and Punjab to investigate the role of the respective governments in harassing the Opposition Mamata Banerjee and Parkash Singh Badal, Fernandes said.