New Delhi: As concern mounted for safety of Indians stranded in Iraq, government today decided to monitor the situation on an hourly basis and explored possibility of ground-level cooperation with Iraqi authorities to assist its citizens in violence-hit areas of the oil-rich Gulf nation.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was “monitoring and reviewing” the situation in Iraq and issued directions to hold a “crisis management meeting” to review all aspects of the assistance that can be provided to the Indian nationals there.
Secretary East in the Ministry of External Affairs Anil Wadhwa met the Iraqi Ambassador Ahmad Tahsin Ahmad Berwari and both of them discussed the possibilities of ground-level cooperation in assisting Indian nationals in violence affected areas.
“Events in Iraq have been high on the agenda of the Ministry of External Affairs today. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has herself been monitoring and reviewing the situation on a regular basis. In accordance with her instructions, the Embassy of India in Baghdad is providing us updated reports on their contacts with the Indian nationals in the affected areas,” the Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs said.
He said government was monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. Official sources said the Indian Mission in Baghdad was in touch with the Iraqi government and the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) to ensure the safety of all Indians stranded in the violence-affected areas of that country.
Around 46 nurses are stranded in Tikrit, besides nearly 40 other Indians in Mosul. Insurgent outfits have seized the two cities .
The Spokesperson said Swaraj had asked Wadhwa, who is in-charge of the Gulf region, to hold a crisis management meeting.
In response to a request by the Indian government, a team of International Red Crescent contacted the nurses in Tikrit and reported back to the Indian authorities that they were well, the sources said.
In Thiruvanathapuram, Minister for Non-Resident Keralites Affairs K C Joseph told the Kerala Assembly that the government had information that the nurses stranded in Tikrit were safe.
The Indian Embassy in Baghdad has already set up a a 24- hour helpline to offer assistance to Indian nationals there.
Over 10,000 Indians are estimated to be currently living in Iraq. Asked whether the government was considering evacuating the nurses from Tikrit, the sources said the roads are not suitable for any movement at present. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had already written to Swaraj seeking urgent steps for safe evacuation of the Keralites.
The government had on Sunday asked Indians residing in Iraq to consider leaving the country in view of the “precarious” security situation. In an advisory, the government had also asked people not to travel to Iraq.
Strongly condemning the violence in Iraq, the government yesterday had said it was “deeply concerned” with the deteriorating security situation in that country resulting from recent attacks and taking over of some cities, including Mosul and Tikrit, by terrorist outfits since June 8.
Terming the attacks a “direct threat to the security and territorial integrity” of Iraq, the Ministry of External Affairs had said India remained strongly committed to the “emergence of a stable, peaceful, united and democratic Iraq” which is in the interest of regional and global peace.
“The Government of India strongly condemns such attacks and firmly stands by the government and people of Iraq in their fight against international terrorism and in their efforts to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of the friendly country of Iraq,” it said. (PTI)