Arun Jaitley refuses to speculate on whether India will send forces to Iraq

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley today said that he would not speculate on whether India will send forces to Iraq to evacuate stranded Indians.

Jaitley was addressing a commander's conference today in New Delhi in which he also said that the government will focus on increasing defence spend to meet requirements.

"Our defence forces want their requirements to be fulfilled and the procedure to also speed up. The government and ministry will try to proceed further in this issue. Our forces are ready to save the country and all their requirements will be fulfilled by the public exchequer," said Jaitley while addressing a press conference.

Yesterday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said that the Indian nationals in Iraq were safe and unharmed, and assured that the ministry is in contact with the 46 nurses stuck in Tikrit.

The MEA also said that the ministry has received 120 requests in Baghdad and 300 in its control room in New Delhi for various types of assistance.