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Journalism of Courage
Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha today told the Lok Sabha that India is looking for a ‘‘more explicit’’ UN mandate to consider sending its troops to Iraq.
Replying to a question by NCP’s Nivedita Mane and a spate of supplementaries, Sinha dismissed the Opposition charge that the Government had violated the unanimous resolution of Parliament on Iraq. He said: ‘‘When we take a decision (to send troops), we will keep the resolution in mind.’’
Rejecting the charge that India was under US pressure to send troops to Iraq, he said people should ‘‘exorcise themselves of the ghost of America.’’ He said: ‘‘India should not lose self-confidence.’’ Opposition members, including Congress chief whip Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, SP’s Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lok Janshakti Party ‘s Ram Vilas Paswan and CPI(M)’s Rupchand Pal, contended the Government had flouted the unanimous resolution by even entertaining the US request to consider sending the troops to Iraq.
Sinha declared ‘‘the Government has decided that it can consider deployment of troops in Iraq, if there is an explicit UN mandate. All aspects, including the Parliament resolution, would be taken in to account.”
