India not withdrawing from UNIFIL, will continue peace mission: Go

New Delhi, July 26 (UNI) India today ruled out withdrawal of its troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and asserted it would continue with the peacekeeping mission as long as the UN wanted.

India, which has at present 672 soldiers of the Four Sikh Infantry with the UNIFIL, has been with it since 1998 when it contributed a battalion under UN Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426 of 1978.

Brigadier J P Nehra is the Deputy Force Commander of UNIFIL.

''We are not withdrawing (from the UNIFIL). As long as the UNIFIL is there, India is not withdrawing. We are a part of the UNIFIL and there is no proposal to withdraw...India cannot take a unilateral decision. We are with the UN,'' Mr K C Singh, Additional Secretary (International Organisations) in the External Affairs Ministry said.

The mandate of the UNIFIL is ending on July 31. Whether it will be extended or not, depends on the UN Security Council.

Official sources however said the mandate could be extended by one-to-three months.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said the Indian contingent with the UNIFIL was ''safe and secure'' and all positions in the war torn Lebanon mandated to the UN Force, were being manned although the freedom of movement was curtailed to some extent.

Asked whether any compensation had been given to or announced for the Indian soldier of the UNIFIL who was injured in an Israeli air attack last week, Mr Sarna said there is a certain methodology for compensation since he was working under the UN.

He said India had taken up with the Israeli Ammbassador in New Delhi the matter of the death of an Indian national in Israeli bombing in Southern Lebanon last week. The matter was taken up by the Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry.

An Indian national was killed and three were injured when Israeli jets bombed a glass factory in Eastern Bekaa valley in Southern Lebanon.

A senior official of the External Affairs Ministry said the UNIFIL is deployed 120 km along the Blue Line and at a 'depth' of about five-ten km. They are performing a limited humanitarian role at present.

The official said since July 12, when the hostilities began, eight UNIFIL personnel had been killed and four injured.

Non-essential staff of the UNIFIL had been moved out of the area by sea.

The Defence Ministry is also in touch with the (Indian contingent) of the UNIFIL and has reported that their ''morale is high.'' However, sometimes, Hizbollah has come too close.

India has, at present, 9054 troops on various UN Missions in eleven countries. It has the maximum presence of 3506 troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UNI RB PA PM2229