The Lower House passed a bill Nov. 13 to allow the nation's navy to return to the Indian Ocean for a limited version of an antiterrorism mission now halted by a legislative impasse.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda smiles during a special committee session at the Lower House in Tokyo on Nov. 12. AP PHOTO

Japanese warships had refueled vessels from countries fighting in the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan since 2001 but withdrew from the mission as the opposition blocked its extension after the Nov. 1 expiration, saying it violated Japan's pacifist Constitution.

The bill, approved by a Lower House committee Nov. 12, limits Japanese ships to refueling, and supplying water to ships used in monitoring and inspecting vessels suspected of links to terrorism or arms smuggling.

It would not allow Japanese warships to refuel vessels involved in military attacks, or in rescue operations and humanitarian relief directly related to Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has argued that pulling out of the mission entirely would leave Japan, which depends on the Middle East for nearly all of its oil, sidelined in the fight against global terrorism.

The scaled-back mission -- also opposed by the opposition -- was introduced by the Liberal Democratic Party as a compromise intended to show the public its flexibility. Public support is divided, though polls show more Japanese favor it than oppose it.

The ruling party can force the bill through the Diet because of its majority in the more powerful Lower House, which can overrule an Upper House rejection. But the bill must still be debated in the opposition-controlled Upper House, meaning it likely will be held up for weeks.