"The government has made it clear that if there is an explicit United Nations mandate, only then this issue could be considered," Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said in reply to a volley of questions in the lower house of parliament.

The Iraq issue generated considerable heat in parliament with opposition members accusing the government of working "under directions of the United States."

The foreign minister responded: "I want to make it clear that there is no pressure on India and India will never act under any pressure. Please take this ghost of (the) US out of your minds.

"The question whether we will send the troops after a UN mandate is in the future. If there is no UN mandate, there is no question of sending the troops. If there is, we have said we would consider it. That (a UN mandate) is the starting point for consideration," Sinha said.

The minister also briefed the house about his telephone discussion this week with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who asked him if India would reconsider sending troops if there were a broader UN mandate.

Sinha said he conveyed to Powell that India was "clearly looking for a more explicit UN mandate" before considering the issue.

Earlier, opposition members led by the main Congress party charged the government with ignoring a parliamentary resolution that condemned the US-led invasion of Iraq and called for the immediate withdrawal of US and British troops from that country.

"How can you even remotely think of sending the troops even if there is a UN mandate in the backdrop of all this?" Congress chief whip Priyaranjan Dasmunshi asked.

"The parliament resolution is sacrosanct," the minister replied. "Everyone is bound by it. I want to say that under no circumstances have we violated the parliament resolution and in future also, it will be taken into consideration."

Sinha explained that after the parliament resolution passed in the budget session in May, there had been "further developments at the international level," including UN Security Council Resolution 1483, which "put certain responsibilities on the occupying powers."

"The UN also appealed to other member states for reconstruction, et cetera. After that the government of India stated that we need a more explicit UN mandate," Sinha said.

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