New Delhi, July 6: Now it’s in “black and white” — India will not send troops to Iraq even if there is a specific request from the US.

The unambiguous comment came from foreign minister K. Natwar Singh in the Lok Sabha today. Singh also termed the abuse of Iraqis by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad as “abhorrent” and “heinous acts” which could not be condoned.

This is the first time India has made its position clear on either sending troops or on the treatment of Iraqi detainees at the hands of US military police who have been accused of sexually humiliating the prisoners.

Delhi’s stand on both these issues came three days after talks between Singh and his US counterpart Colin Powell on the sidelines of the Asean Regional Forum meeting in Jakarta on Saturday and a week before US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage arrives.

Last month, Singh had sparked a controversy after a meeting with Powell in Washington. Asked whether India would send troops to Iraq, he had said the situation in the war-ravaged country has changed.

The Left parties, which back the Congress-led government from outside, and the the BJP had reacted sharply and demanded a clarification.

Today, Singh set at rest all doubts. “Even if asked, India will not send its troops. I am saying it in black and white,” he told the Lok Sabha this evening.

In a reference to the controversy over his reported remark, the foreign minister said in a voice choked with emotion and and tears in his eyes: “To assume that I will compromise on this issue is inconceivable.”

Singh recalled that on June 3 last year, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld had written to then defence minister George Fernandes asking for Indian troops. But Sonia Gandhi had made it clear to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that troops could not be sent to Iraq without a national consensus.

“The unanimous resolution of Parliament was passed inspite of the reluctance of the Vajpayee government,” Singh claimed. He added that the resolution made it clear that the government could consider only if there was an “explicit UN mandate” asking member countries to contribute troops.

The foreign minister’s comments were in response to the special discussion on the situation in Iraq that CPI member P.K. Vasudevan Nair had initiated.

Nair said the situation was alarming because even after foisting a “puppet government”, the US and its allies wanted to remain in control. He also alleged that the US-initiated war on Iraq was aimed at controlling the country’s rich petroleum deposits.

Singh shared the concern over the atrocities at Abu Ghraib jail. “There can be no condoning of such heinous acts,” he said. “Like the rest of the world India considers the ill-treatment and abuse of Iraqi prisoners abhorrent.”