NEW DELHI, 5 February 2003 — A majority of Indians are opposed to any military action against Iraq under any circumstances but believe it is likely to occur in the next few months, according to an international survey conducted by Gallup.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee also reiterated India’s stand against US war on Iraq yesterday and hoped that “good sense” would prevail.
Almost half the Indians who participated in the survey believe that American foreign policy has a “negative effect” on the country.
Almost 65 percent of the respondents believed that it is either “very likely” or “quite likely” that military action will be launched against Iraq in the next few months.
Taylor-Nelson Sofres-Mode conducted the survey last month in four major cities among 1,048 randomly selected people as part of a larger international poll by Gallup.
The poll found that some 80-90 percent of the people in 41 countries think military action is likely to be launched against Iraq in the next few months but half the population in these nations is not in favor of such action.
The poll covered some 30,000 people in the 41 countries. More than half of the Americans contacted thought a war was very likely in the near future. Forty-seven percent of the Indian respondents said they believed American foreign policy has a negative effect on the country.
On the question of military action against Iraq, 28 percent of the Indians said it was “very likely” while 37 percent said it was “quite likely”.
Fifty-nine percent said they were not in favor of military action against Iraq under any circumstances while 29 percent said such action could be taken only if the United Nations sanctioned it.
If military action was taken against Iraq, 62 percent Indians said New Delhi should not support it while 35 percent favored supporting it. Only eight percent of the respondents were in favor of a unilateral attack by the US and its allies.
Vajpayee also voiced his opposition to a US-led attack against Iraq and said he hoped both sides would end the build-up in military tensions.
“We do not favor an attack on Iraq. We still hope there will be no such move,” Vajpayee said.
“And we hope good sense prevails on them,” Vajpayee said without elaborating.
In many countries, more than 50 percent of respondents opposed military action even if it is sanctioned by the UN. These include Pakistan (60 percent), Argentina (83 percent), Russia (59 percent) and France (60 percent).
