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India not considering troops for Iraq: Congress
June 11, 2004 19:29 IST
India has neither received any proposal nor is it considering sending troops to Iraq but it is committed to economic reconstruction of the country, the Congress party said on Friday.
"There is neither any proposal nor is India considering it," party spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters denying that External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, after his meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell had made a statement that India will reconsider sending troops to Iraq.
In fact, Sharma said the minister stated that there was no proposal before India to send troops to Iraq.
India, however, welcomed the US-British sponsored resolution that lays down steps for an elected government in Iraq by January end 2006 and gives the interim government full control over fledging Iraqi security forces as also over its resources, including oil, and grants option to Iraqis to ask the multinational force to pack up and go home.
He said what Singh said was that India has welcomed new UN resolution on Iraq which infact vindicated 'our position' for central role for United Nations in the country's affairs.
Secondly, he said India was committed to reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq.