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Journalism of Courage
Reacting to the Vajpayee Government’s reported move to deploy Indian troops in Iraq, CPI-M MP Hannan Mollah shot off a letter to Defence Minister George Fernandes asking him to place the ‘‘real facts’’ before the public.
Questioning the Government’s reported move, Mollah’s letter said: ‘‘We understand the US government wants us to send about 20,000 Indian Army personnel as peace keeping force, but we don’t know who would bear the cost of transportation to Iraq and the expenditure on upkeeping and maintenance of the force there and all other related costs. We do not know what will be the total amount involved in such an exercise.’’
The Left Parties, which was largely instrumental in forcing a parliamentary resolution deploring the war on Iraq in the last session of the House, has been opposing the move of sending Indian troops to Iraq.
Mollah’s letter, a copy of which was released to the media today, said there is almost unanimity in public perception against sending of Indian forces to Iraq to maintain law and order.
‘‘Our forces, which enjoy a high stand and respect as UN peacekeeping force in various parts of the world, would no longer enjoy that image. At the same time it would tarnish our image in the eyes of the common Iraqi people,’’ the letter said.
Asking Fernandes to place the facts in this connection before the public and political parties, the CPI-M leader said: ‘‘The ambiguous position of the Government is doing more harm to the country’s image and interest.’’
