INDIA FLEES IRAQ<\/b>: Pulls out embassy personnel from Baghdad<\/p>\n
India advises its citizens to leave Iraq
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By Harbaksh Singh Nanda
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From the International Desk
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Published 3\/10\/2003 1:14 PM
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View printer-friendly version<\/p>\n
NEW DELHI, March 10 (UPI) — India on Monday asked its citizens to immediately leave Iraq as war clouds loomed large in the region.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said Indian Embassy officials in Baghdad have been asked to move out.<\/p>\n
“There are about 50 Indians including embassy staff in Iraq and they have been asked to take immediate steps to leave that country,” Sinha said.<\/p>\n
The decision came after the Indian government convened an all-party meeting to discuss the Iraq situation.<\/p>\n
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told the meeting that India was pursuing a neutral path, since it enjoyed good relations with both the United States and Iraq.<\/p>\n
Vajpayee assured opposition lawmakers that India wouldn’t extend facilities to the United States if it went ahead with unilateral military action against Iraq.<\/p>\n
India’s leading opposition Congress Party and Left Parties called for a parliamentary resolution condemning Washington’s threats of any unilateral action against Iraq. The government rejected the demand.<\/p>\n
India’s opposition parties want the government to oppose the war even if the action is sanctioned by the United Nations.<\/p>\n
India is one of a few nations that maintained skeleton diplomatic relations with Iraq after Baghdad suffered international isolation following the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq also has an embassy in New Delhi.<\/p>\n
“We have taken all precautions to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals in that area,” Sinha said.<\/p>\n
The Indian minister said India had enough oil reserves to sail through any crisis in the event of a military conflict in Iraq.<\/p>\n
India has maintained all along that Iraq could be persuaded through peaceful means to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction.<\/p>\n
New Delhi says it will not back any military action against Iraq if it did not have the approval of the United Nations.<\/p>\n
Last week, President George W. Bush had called Vajpayee to court New Delhi’s support for military action against Baghdad.<\/p>\n
Although 82 percent of India’s more than 1 billion people are Hindus, it is also home to the world’s second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia.<\/p>\n
There was a domestic political furor after New Delhi gave U.S. military planes refueling facilities during the Gulf War. <\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2001-2003 United Press International<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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