NEW DELHI, 8 July 2004 — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday ruled out sending troops to Iraq despite the transfer of power from the US-led occupation authority to an interim Iraqi administration.
Singh told Parliament his Communist-backed coalition was bound by a resolution of Parliament last year which criticized the invasion of Iraq and sought the withdrawal of all coalition forces from the country.
“There is no change in our policy. As of now there is no proposal to send any Indian troops to Iraq,” Singh said after a row erupted in Parliament over what lawmakers said were conflicting signals from the new administration on Iraq.
Opposition deputies demanded Foreign Minister Natwar Singh come clear on his comments last month that the government could take a fresh look at sending troops to Iraq after the UN Security Council gave its blessing to a new interim government in Baghdad. Natwar Singh has since repeatedly clarified that there were no plans to commit soldiers to Iraq, but opposition deputies said they were not convinced.
Several lawmakers from the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party walked out of the lower house of Parliament, saying they remained suspicious of the government’s position on Iraq.
Washington had last year sought troops from India to help stabilize the situation in Iraq, but New Delhi refused, saying it couldn’t afford to divert them from the insurgency in Kashmir.
