The Hindu : India refutes reports on evacuation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 22, 2003

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India refutes reports on evacuation

New Delhi March 21. Refuting reports that Indians in large numbers were awaiting evacuation at the Kuwait airport in the wake of war on Iraq, India said there was no cause for panic.

``The Kuwait airport is open and all regular Air India and Indian Airlines flights are in operation,'' the External Affairs Ministry spokesman told reporters here today.

``There is no backlog of passengers at Kuwait airport,'' he said. He said 1,235 Indian nationals had arrived in India through special flights from Kuwait. ``People are coming back of their own volition. This is not evacuation''.

The normal air operations by commercial airlines were continuing, he said.

The crisis management committee, headed by R. M. Abhyankar, Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, held its third meeting today to review the evolving situation as also study the feedback from Indian missions in the region.

The India's Ambassador to Iraq, P. P. Tyagi, who has moved to Amman, spoke to the local staff at the Indian embassy in Baghdad and was told that the mission premises were ``safe and secure''. While there are an estimated 3.5 million Indians in the Gulf region, in Kuwait alone there are about 3.50 lakh Indians.

Indians safe

A report from Dubai said the Indian embassy in Kuwait today sought to allay fears of the Indian community saying the country is safe with life going on as usual in the city and that the present situation did not warrant any evacuation.

``Kuwait continues to be safe and secure and its residents including the Indian community, remain relatively calm and are continuing with their normal activities,'' the embassy said.

``The Kuwaiti Government has made elaborate arrangements for civil defence and has deployed additional security forces for the safety and protection of the residents in Kuwait,'' it said in a release. The embassy attributed a spurt in traffic to the closure of schools during spring and the return of some workers from suspended projects. — PTI

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