Stepping up its contingency plans to evacuate Indians from Iraq, India has diverted its Navy ships towards the Persian Gulf. The Indian Navy has deployed its warship INS Mysore in the Persian Gulf and is on a standby by the Government. Two more ships have been asked to be in readiness. Sources told The Pioneer that INS Tarkash, which is patrolling in the Gulf of Eden as part of anti-piracy operations, has been diverted towards the Iraqi coast while INS Mumbai too is on way to Iraq. The Indian Air Force has put its heavy lift transport aircrafts C-17 and Il-76 on standby and can be pressed for evacuation operations.
Spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Syed Akbaruddin said all national assets will be in readiness to assist Indians and a contingency plan is being worked out to meet any situation. “We are only repositioning our assets as the Indian Navy's also has the mandate for human assistance and disaster relief,” said an official from Indian Navy.
Sources said that this has been done to evacuate more than 15,000 Indians living in Iraq in case a situation arises. However, since majority all of them are in safe zone as of now but India does not want to take a chance if an emergency situation arises for mass evacuation. The meeting to send the Navy ships was taken during a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth on Friday. The meeting also discussed reluctance of the Iraq-based Indians to return despite advisories. The main concern of Indians is securing livelihood for those who leave. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has call a meeting of Indian ambassadors in the Gulf countries for consultation. India has set up three camp offices to facilitate departure of Indians from non-conflict zones. Besides, providing travel documents, these offices will also help sort out any labour or employer related issues.
MEA said the 39 kidnapped Indian remained in captivity but unharmed. The spokesperson said the government is working on some leads available about them. The Indian mission was also in touch with 46 nurses in Tikrit and denied reports that there was any explosion in the hospital compound they were in. As many as 17 Indians were recently evacuated through a chopper from Samara.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday asked the Centre to expedite the process of evacuation of Indians stranded in conflict-hit Iraq.
Officers in Iraq camp offices
Najaf: Abu Mathen George (+964 771 6511190), Srinivas Rao(+964771 6511181) Rakesh Singh (+964 771 6511179); -mail controlroomnajaf@gmail.com.
Karbala: Anil Sapra (+964 771 6511180), Jeewan Singh (+964 7716511176); e-mail controlroomkarbala@gmail.com
Basra: Narasimha Murthy Kuppa (+964 771 6511182), Asif Shah Ahmed (+964 771 6511178), email controlroombasrah@gmail.com