SP sees Saddam's hanging as murder, condemns UPA's stand

New Delhi, Dec 30 (UNI) Describing former Iraq President Saddam Hussein's hanging as ''murder'', the Samajwadi Party (SP) today condemned the UPA government at the Centre for extending only a ''lukewarm'' support to the Iraqi leader and called upon the Left to strongly oppopse the ''imperialistic designs ''of the United States.

''Had the Government wanted, it could have created a very strong opinion against the injustice being meted to Saddam Hussein, but the fact is that the Manmohan Singh Government is acting under the influence of the US and has accepted that the world had become unipolar,'' SP general secretary Amar Singh said while addressing a press conference here.

Saddam had consistently supported India on the Kashmir issue but it was sad the UPA government failed to come forward strongly in his support, he said.

The Iraqi leader's trial 'has been a travesty of justice' and everybody should condemn it in the strongest term, he added.

''US first established a puppet regime in Iraq and then started the farce of trial by a puppet judge. Saddam Hussein was not given an opportunity to be heard,'' he added.

The SP leader said, ''I want to know whom US government punished for the genocide in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, North Korea and Vietnam.'' He sought to caution India that after establishing its hegemony in West Asia by using Iraq as a base, the US would not spare even Pakistan and afterwards India.

The SP leader announced his party would observe a black day on January four to lodge its strong protest against the ''cruel and fascist act'' committed by the United States.

On that day, party activists would hold demonstrations at all district headquarters in Uttar Pradesh, he added.

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