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NEW DELHI, March 3 (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee Monday asked the nation to be prepared for the outbreak of war in Iraq.

"I ask all the foreign dignitaries coming to India, 'will there be war?' No one has said no, there won't be war. We have prepared the nation, the nation has to be ready," Vajpayee told parliament.

"There are four million Indians in the Gulf. Those who are there will not be left in the lurch and arrangements will be made to bring them back."

The government has already announced contingency plans to evacuate Indian nationals in case of war.

Vajpayee said the current international situation was "delicate" and was testing "our diplomacy".

"We will have to stand united and meet this world crisis," he said.

Earlier, Vajpayee reiterated that Iraq must fulfil all United Nations Security Council resolutions and if it does so, sanctions must be lifted against Baghdad.

Asked repeatedly by the opposition why New Delhi was not "hailing" protests around the world against war on Iraq, Vajpayee said, "We look for the middle path and find a way out of that. It's an old policy."

The Indian government has repeatedly spoken against any unilateral US attack on Iraq but has joined international demands for Baghdad to come clean on its weapons of mass destruction programs. 

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