India on Tuesday confirmed its opposition to the airstrikes on Libya, saying a couple of countries could not take the decision to enforce a change of regime dpa reported.
In a statement before Parliament, Indian Finance Minister and leader of the house Pranab Mukherjee said, "What is happening in a country is within their internal affairs and no external power should interfere with it."
A coalition that includes the United States, France and Britain has carried out three days of bombing of Libya's air defences to enforce a no-fly zone in the North African nation.
"Nobody - a couple of countries or three or four countries - can take the decision: We do not like and, therefore, we change a particular regime," Mukherjee said.
Changing a government should be a matter for the people of that country and not external forces, Mukherjee added.
"For external intervention there is an effective mechanism within the international order and that should be followed," Mukherjee said.
India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Monday called for a peaceful resolution of the Libyan crisis.
India did not sympathise with Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, Krishna said, but was opposed to the use of force in the crisis.
Krishna said the airstrikes posed a threat to civilians and foreign nationals in Libya.
India, along with Russia, Brazil, Germany and China, abstained from voting in the United Nations Security Council resolution that allowed the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya.
India has expressed concerns that the resolution could form a precedent for similar UN action in other countries.
There was also concern about the safety of at least 2,000 Indian nationals who have opted to stay in Libya. More than 15,000 Indian workers have been repatriated since the conflict began.
India, with its large Muslim population, has also had to show greater sensitivity to issues in the Arab world, according to Ramesh Phadke of the Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis.
Other observers said India's approach was pragmatic, as it was possible Gaddafi could weather the current crisis to remain in power, as he has survived international pressure and isolation in the past.
"India has been at the forefront of infrastructural projects in the country, bidding for oil refineries, road construction," columnist Suhasini Haider wrote in the Hindu newspaper.
"It would be counterproductive for India to give up its unique positioning in Libya simply to be swept up in the train of the US and Europe's interests there," she wrote.