M A I N   N E W S

PM conveys anguish to Bush
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 20
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee tonight conveyed to US President George W. Bush "deep anguish" over UN Security Council’s failure to agree on the best means of disarming Iraq and hoped that the military action would "conclude at the earliest".

The Prime Minister conveyed the Indian position to the US President when the latter telephoned Mr Vajpayee and briefed him on the recent developments which prompted the decision for military action in Iraq.

Official sources said the US President congratulated the Prime Minister on the conclusion of his five years in office.

They said Mr Vajpayee conveyed deep anguish over the UN Security Council not reaching an agreement on the best means of achieving the objective of disarming Iraq.

The Prime Minister also hoped that the "military action would conclude at the earliest and a sustained international effort undertaken to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people".

He indicated that India would be willing to participate in such an effort.

New Delhi has also came out strongly against the use of force to effect a regime change in Baghdad, asserting that this process has to come from within the country.

Meanwhile, the Centre has convened an all-party meeting on March 22 in Parliament House to discuss the developments in the Gulf region. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, in a statement, appealed to the leaders of all political parties to attend the meeting.

India reacts angrily
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 20
India today made clear its displeasure at the commencement of the US military action against Iraq, though its reaction was not as strong as China’s which called for an immediate halt to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Soon after the military action started at a few minutes past 8 am IST (5.33 am Baghdad time), an informal meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was held at Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s residence to take stock of the situation. The meeting, presided over by Mr Vajpayee, gauged the possible fallout of the Iraq war on India from the points of view of non-state intervention (terrorism), economic and political.

Key functionaries like Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Defence Minister George Fernandes examined the Iraq situation from the political, diplomatic and strategic points of view during the hour-long meeting.

At the meeting, the government decided to give topmost priority to hundreds of thousands of Indians scattered all over the Gulf region. Of these, 3.2 lakh Indians are in Kuwait alone which is likely to bear the brunt of the Iraqi counter-attack.

Meanwhile, the Crisis Management Group (CMG) also met today under the chairmanship of Mr R.M. Abhyankar, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and reviewed the situation. The MEA maintained that there was no evacuation of Indians from Kuwait or other Gulf regions and the airports of the countries concerned were open and functional.