The Centre is getting ready for massive evacuation of more than 2,200 Indians from strife-torn Iraq. According to Ministry of External Affairs, several Indians in non-conflict zone in southern Iraq have expressed their desire to leave for home and they will be in India in the next 36 to 48 hours even as 200 others reached here early on Sunday morning.
As the momentum of evacuation picked up, the facilitation process of transporting Indian nationals from Iraq is focused on the non-conflict zone in southern Iraq, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters on Sunday. Four mobile teams of six people each have been placed in Najaf, Karbala and Basra apart from Baghdad, which have collected details of those who would like to leave for home.
“Our advice to them is to leave. But if they are facing problems or are staying back because of tickets, the Government of India is ready to provide them the tickets. We are also ready to provide assistance in terms of contractual problems. Based on that our assessment is 2,200 Indian nationals have in some form or other expressed their desire to leave Iraq,” he said.
Of these, Akbaruddin said 600 Indians have been provided tickets by the Government through the facilitation process of the Baghdad mission. Tickets for another 600 Indians have been paid by their companies. Another 1,600 were being provided tickets by the Government for their return, he said, adding that since developments in the last 48 hours, the Government has calibrated its approach and the momentum of bringing back people has picked up.
On Saturday, 170 people were brought and this morning an Iraqi Airways special flight brought 200 people to Delhi. In addition Iraqi Airways is also flying normal flights from Baghdad. In the next 36 to 48 hours, two other special flights from Najaf and Basra will bring 200 and 280 people respectively to Delhi.
In addition, a group of 117 passengers will arrive early Monday morning in Delhi by a commercial flight that will be diverted to Najaf to pick them up. Akbaruddin said the Indian mission was processing documents for facilitating the exit of 200 plus people. In the next 48 hours, all the 1,600 people who have expressed their desire to come back on tickets paid by Government would have been transported. Out of the 600 people, whose tickets have been paid for by the Government, have already returned to the country. They are from Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai.
The spokesman said that there were 10 commercial flights available from Baghdad to various points in the gulf and the Government was using all seats that were available on these flights. In addition, the Government was commissioning special flights of Iraqi Airways from other areas“With that we will be able to complete the process of bringing back all those who wanted to come back. We are also doing due diligence,” he said.
Referring to the easing of the situation, Akbaruddin said that approximately 480 calls were received in control rooms in Delhi and Baghdad. He said it was a judgement of the individuals whether they want to come back. Now the calls have come down from 60 to 80 calls to 4 to 6 calls a day reflecting the considerable lowering of levels of anxiety and concern. On the problem of Indians in the conflict zone, he said he would not like to go into it now, though even one life is valuable to the Government.