New Delhi: Criticising his statement on the Iraq issue, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Jun 12, 2004) charged the External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh with making "earth shaking and far reaching" pronouncements that reopen the question of sending Indian troops to the war-torn country which the party said was "unwarranted".

Accusing Singh of "putting his foot in the mouth" with a series of statements, BJP spokesman and former External Affairs minister Yashwant Sinha said that yesterday's (Jun 11, 2004) remarks of Singh in Washington were a "far-reaching statement on the US soil by a Government committed to following an independent foreign policy" and has not made the Government position clear on the issue.

Maintaining that his statement "completely reopens a chapter on sending of troops to Iraq," he said given the security situation in Iraq today, it was quite clear that the role of peace keeping troops would not be so much for peace keeping as fighting the Iraqi people.

"We had stated that our troops would not go. We have clearly decided that we will not commit Indian troops in a situation where they will receive fire and open fire on the Iraqi people," he said.

Sinha said the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) Government had clearly said in July that even the consideration of a starting point on the issue of sending Indian troops to Iraq would be explicitly based on the U N Security Council Resolution.