For the first time since war clouds began gathering over Iraq, India today said in the clearest possible terms it would not "let down" President Saddam Hussain and asked the world community to do everything possible to prevent a unilateral US action in Iraq.
Recognising that the attack in Iraq was actually about gaining political control of the Gulf and, therefore, the revenues from the trade in oil, India also asked Iraq to fully comply with the United Nations weapons inspectors to prevent a war in the region for the general good of the world. India's diplomatic intervention came through a discussion in the Rajya Sabha.
The upshot of the discussion was what the National Democratic Alliance government was waiting to hear. It was that India should play a more pro-active diplomatic role to avert another conflict that is looming in the Gulf.
Warning that oil and gas supplies could be seriously disrupted in the wake of a conflict, members of different parties supported the Indian stand, spelled out recently by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, that sovereignty of nations should be respected and not violated.
Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha was balanced in his reply. While conceding that New Delhi had "high stakes" in that region, he said India imported most of its crude from the Gulf and there were 3.5 million Indians there who repatriated savings of $7-8 billion annually.
Fortified by the Rajya Sabha's endorsement of India's policy, Sinha said any military action would send oil prices spiralling up.
"A military conflict will be disastrous for us. We do not want a situation like the one of 1991 after the Gulf War," Sinha said. "Let us not allow emotions to overtake our stand and responsibility and let national interest and idealism, the two pillars of our foreign policy, give expression to our position," he added.
The Congress initiated a short duration discussion on the grave situation in West Asia, with party leader Pranab Mukherjee endorsing the government's stand on the issue as "balanced". The discussion in the Rajya Sabha will provide the leverage India is seeking.
France and India, while backing the UN resolution asking Iraq to comply with weapons inspectors, have been outspoken against the unilateralism of the US-UK alliance. They warned that an attack on Iraq, which has regime change as its central point, cannot be expected to find favour in the Islamic world, however much the Arab countries might back it for fear of annoying the US.
India has warned the world community that given the unrepresentative nature of the Arab countries, the retaliation to the US campaign can lead to more incidents like the attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001.
