India unlikely to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - India is unlikely to agree to a U.S. request that it
send troops to Iraq to participate in peacekeeping efforts, a news report said
Sunday.
A formal announcement to this effect is expected after a meeting on Monday of
the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Hindu newspaper said, citing unnamed
sources.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declined to comment.
The U.S. request for peacekeeping troops came last month during a visit by
Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani to Washington.
A team of U.S. defense officials also visited New Delhi to discuss arrangements
for an Indian deployment in Iraq.
But the New Delhi government said it would make a decision only after consulting
with countries neighboring Iraq and with political parties at home.
Vajpayee has met with his alliance partners and with opposition parties in
recent weeks, but failed to achieve a consensus on dispatching troops, the Hindu
report said.
It said Vajpayee is unlikely to risk political embarrassment at home, although
the United States has repeatedly said that sending troops to Iraq would benefit
India.
India depends on imports of oil from the Gulf region and had several
energy-related agreements with Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq.
The Hindu newspaper quoted unnamed Indian officials as saying that Washington's
proposal would cost India 130 million rupees (US$2.8 million). - AP
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