Chanakya's_Chant
SENIOR MEMBER
![](/styles/default/xenforo/ranks/commander.jpg)
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2013
- Messages
- 3,395
- Reaction score
- 28
- Country
- Location
India sends warship to Iraq to help stranded nationals
India launched its first initiative for the possible evacuation of its nationals from war-torn Iraq with a powerful Delhi-class destroyer being despatched to the Persian Gulf by the navy.
The decision to launch the operation was given the go ahead at a meeting of the Crisis Management Group which was attended by the three service chiefs.
Sources said the warship would be in the region in a day and would wait for further orders from New Delhi. A parallel effort for air evacuation by the national carrier Air India is also being considered, they said.
![article-2672831-1F17B1C500000578-102_468x320.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2014%2F06%2F28%2Farticle-2672831-1F17B1C500000578-102_468x320.jpg&hash=c8e7f5f09578b1b5770c333a6dbccc73)
Concerns: The government has taken action to help stranded Indians amidst uncertainty over the situation in Mosul. Pictured is Indian construction worker Rajesh Kumar with his family. He was one of 40 Indian workers abducted in Mosul by militants
The government swung into action to help stranded Indians amidst uncertainty over the fluid situation in Mosul, where 39 Indian construction workers are being held hostage by militants aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
One of the major concerns about the possible evacuation of Indian nationals is that many people do not possess valid documents or have had their papers taken away by their employers, sources said.
It would be a daunting task to establish the identity of the people as many of them are currently living in conflict zones with workers from other South Asian countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan.
There are an estimated 10,000 Indians in Iraq though most of them are based in areas away from the swathes of territory captured by ISIS. Besides the 39 Indians kidnapped in Mosul, 46 nurses from Kerala are stranded in a hospital in Tikrit which too has been overrun by militants. The External Affairs Ministry has said that a little more than 100 Indians are in the conflict zones.
The Indian Navy already had a warship in the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy operations. Sources said many warships of several countries like the US and Britain are in the Pursian Gulf because of oil interests.
The Indian Navy has experience of carrying out evacuations in the Gulf and it had won accolades for Operation Sukoon, conducted evacuate Indian, Sri Lankan and Nepalese nationals from the conflict zone during the 2006 Lebanon War.
Source:- India sends warship to Iraq to help stranded nationals | Mail Online