India Plans Mideast Pullout

India is planning to pull out its 673 soldiers along the Israeli-Lebanon border. The troops are part of the United Nations force in Lebanon.

Indian officials are angry at accusations by some Western networks that the present U.N. force in Lebanon has not been able to prevent Hezbollah attacks.

The Indian contingent consists of tough Sikh infantry soldiers who have more combat experience than either the Israeli or Lebanese armies. But under the "passive peacekeeping" operation rules they have only light weapons and often no weapons at all. "They are not there to impose peace with force", an Indian officer said. (To do that they would need sophisticated weaponry.) Ironically, most of these soldiers could carry out better infantry pincer movements against the Hezbollah than the Israelis but that's not their assignment.

Four Indian soldiers have been injured.

As an Indian general observed, the soldiers are close to Hezbollah rocket launchers and directly in the line of fire of the Israelis. "If the lives of the soldiers are endangered any further, we will pull them out", the general said.

Meanwhile, there is mounting pressure from opposition parties in the Indian Parliament, particularly the Communists who are the main supporters of the government, to stop buying arms from Israel. India buys military equipment worth $900 million a year from Israel, second only to Russia in selling arms to India.

Moscow sells weapons worth $1.5 million to India each year.

Israel mainly sells radars, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), thermal imagers and electronic warfare systems to India. The opposition says India should not buy arms from a country that kills women and children in Lebanon.

But military strategists are more concerned about the working of Israeli weapons in war.

Inaccurate Israeli bombing and the destruction of Israeli tanks by the Hezbollah are being carefully studied. There is also some disappointment at Israeli ground operations.

But India's dependence on Israeli weapons is heavy in fighting Islamic insurgency in Kashmir and political relations between the two countries are good. Yet there is dismay at the killing of Lebanese civilians. Angry demonstrations against Israel have been held in several Indian cities.
By Ranjan Gupta