New Delhi,Feb 18: Congress today opposed any action on Iraq without the sanction of the United Nations and said India should take an active part in diplomatic efforts to defuse the "extraordinary" tense situation in West Asia. "Congress's position on the Iraq crisis has been clear from the beginning. We believe that whatever action has to be taken must flow out of an explicit and clear UN mandate", Party President Sonia Gandhi said at the general body meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP). She said her party deplored any attempt to weaken the authority of United Nations the current session of which was being held in the background of the extraordinary tense situation in West Asia. "The region is vital to our country not only because of its long historical, cultural and political links or oil supplies but also because about 3.5 million of our countrymen and women live and work there", Gandhi, who is also the CPP chairperson, said.

She said the 13th NAM summit at Kualalumpur from February 24 must be imparted a "new sense of purpose and direction keeping in mind contemporaty global and regional challenges". Bureau Report