While the United States is believed to be 'happy' with India's 'balanced' stand on the Iraq issue, India has expressed concern over Iraq's stability in a post-Saddam Hussein scenario and also of an influx of its nationals working in the Gulf, sources in the government told rediff.com.

The US is believed to be keeping the Indian leadership informed over major developments. Over the past few days, US President George Bush has called Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee twice trying to explain the American position.

US secretary of state Colin Powell had spoken to his Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday and US National Security Advisor Condolezza Rice had spoken to her counterpart Brajesh Mishra on Monday night.

"The calls are part of American attempt to keep all informed" and win over as many allies as possible, the sources said.

The last of the calls came on Thursday within hours of India issuing a strong condemnation of the war on Iraq.

India has been shying away from any strident criticism of the US for its unilateral action and Thursday's statement was the strongest condemnation yet of the war on Iraq.

Though the statement does not explicitly name the Americans, it expressed India's 'deepest anguish' over the military action.

India believes that if Saddam Hussein goes, there are 'hardly any credible leaders' left to hold Iraq together.

India also told the US that India has a huge stake in the Gulf region not just because of its oil supplies, but due to the presence of a few million of its citizens.

"Indians are already fleeing Kuwait," the official said, making a case for the war to be a short and swift one, limited to Iraq.

During the phone calls, the Indian leadership have been stressing on three concerns, which are shared by other countries as well, but almost completely overruled by the US.

They are:

1. International efforts should not focus on a regime change in Iraq, that the people of Iraq have the sole right to decide their rulers
2. The US and its allies must stick to multilateralism, i.e. the UN Security Council route, and should not venture out on its own, without UNSC approval
3. Peace must be given a chance, and US and its allies must not rush into war

"We have also said that Iraq must implement UN Security Council resolution 1441," the sources said. 

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 9 Sub: US is doing the right thing US is the doing the right thing in Iraq. If Indian political establishment had been smart, they would have done the same thing with Pakistan ... Posted by Ramesh Sub: entrepreneurship 1991 till date It is a very difficult position for India while giving its opinion on Iraq vis-a-vis US where two friends are warring with different ideologies and ... Posted by rajeev tiwari Sub: US keeping India informed Are the Americans keeping us informed about how many innocent civilians they are killing? It is a shame for the US that they can behave ... Posted by Siddharth Sub: biased It is sad to see no country doing anything except `soft verbal condemnation'. I like india to get involved in the war. today it is ... Posted by ppujari Sub: US is doing the right thing Give peace a chance!!! Nonsense. Realise that you just cannot talk to a few people. You are just wasting your time talking about peace to ... Posted by General Failure