External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh's remarks that India will reconsider sending troops to Iraq drew a sharp reaction from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday.

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"The Indian foreign minister's ambiguous remarks in Washington must be clarified. The government must make it clear that there is no question of sending Indian troops to Iraq to bolster the American occupation," a statement issued by CPM polit bureau said.

The statement noted that there is "no change in the situation in Iraq whatsoever. Iraq has been under American occupation for the last 14 months. There is a popular uprising against the brutal occupation."

The party said that the UN Security Council resolution for the stationing of a multinational force in Iraq till 2006 did not mean that there would be a UN peace keeping force.

"The 1.38 lakh US troops will continue to remain along with a small force from its allies as the so-called multinational force. France, Germany, Russia and Canada have announced they will not send troops," the statement said.

Natwar Singh, while addressing a press conference with his US counterpart Colin Powell in Washington on Thursday, had said: "There is a resolution of the last Parliament on this issue in which we had given our opinion that we were against sending troops to Iraq. Now the situation has changed. There is a resolution unanimously passed in the United Nations and there are Arab members in it. We will look at it very carefully."