NEW DELHI, 19 March 2003 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee yesterday said he hoped “peace would reign” in the Gulf, hours after US President George W. Bush warned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to leave his country or face a war. “What a coincidence that while we are discussing the Gandhi Peace Prize, at this time the world is on the brink of war,” Vajpayee said at an award ceremony here in honor of Mahatma Gandhi.
“Ultimatums are being given and people are being thrown out. We hope even now that peace will reign and the evil of violence will be defeated,” he said.
