Prime Minister Vajpayee today ruled out sending Indian troops to Iraq — at least for the time being. Speaking to journalists at his end-of-visit press conference to New York, where he has met a host of world leaders, from President Vladimir Putin of Russia to Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, Vajpayee said a dominant theme of his bilateral meetings, as well as at the UN , was Iraq. Pointing out that the powerful Big Five at the UN Security Council had still not been able to decide how to keep the peace in Iraq, the PM pointed out that whenever the world body had made requests to India to send soldiers to keep the peace worldwide, New Delhi had never turned down the request. ‘‘But not this time. This is not peace-keeping, it is peace-enforcement,’’ he said. He pointed out that to pacify the situation, force would have to be used, implying that Indian soldiers couldn’t possibly be expected to do so with fellow soldiers. ‘‘We have intimated our concerns to world leaders,’’ the Prime Minister said. In his talks, both with Bush and Putin, Vajpayee said the question of Iraq was dominant. ‘‘The UN had still not been able to decide.talks are still on. We are also waiting, let’s see what happens,’’ he added. In the interim, the PM said, India would like power transferred from the hands of the Americans to the Iraqis as quickly as possible. ‘‘India is ready to help with reconstruction. But it will be some time before a decision is taken,’’ Vajpayee added. But the PM also accused the world leaders of ‘‘evident double standards’’ in the fight against terrorism. Asked why Bush had omitted India in his speech, a matter that had been taken up by L.K. Advani at home, Vajpayee said: ‘‘It doesn’t matter whether Bush omitted India’s name and whether Kofi Annan took it, one cannot draw conclusions from that. It is evident that there are double standards on this issue.’’ Asked whether President Bush had continued to ask India to start a dialogue with Pakistan, the PM replied: ‘‘They have been doing that for a long time. The important thing is that Bush has also recognised that cross-border terrorism has been increasing and that it should be ended.’’ Asked whether New Delhi would continue to talk to the Hurriyat, despite the fact that one faction had been recognised by Pakistan, the PM pointed out that an invitation had been given to all Kashmiri groups by the Centre. ‘‘The Hurriyat is welcome for talks, but they want to be invited specially. We have nothing to do with the division of the Hurriyat,’’ Vajpayee said.
