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| INS Mumbai (Image: Flicke User - MEAphotogallery) |
By Ankit Panda
India’s success in evacuating its citizens from Yemen hasn’t gone unnoticed.
As the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign–Operation Decisive Storm–continues against the Houthi rebels who have overrun large swathes of Yemen, several countries are evacuating their citizens from the country. For India, the evacuation effort represents a mammoth undertaking. Over the weekend, New Delhi carried out the largest aerial evacuation of any country in Yemen since hostilities began: it evacuated 670 Indian citizens on three Air India flights. Additionally, India’s Navy was sent to retrieve over a thousand Indian citizens. Overall, New Delhi has successfully rescued 2,300 of its own citizens so far.
India’s rescue efforts in Yemen, codenamed Operation Raahat, haven’t gone unnoticed. According to reports on April 6, 23 countries have requested Indian assistance in evacuating their citizens from Yemen. According to a tweet by Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the list of countries comprises Bangladesh, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Iraq, Indonesia, Ireland, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Romania, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, the United States, and Yemen.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an active user of social media himself, expressed his support of India’s international rescue efforts: “I am also glad that India has rescued several non-Indian citizens from Yemen,” he remarked on Twitter. “Our evacuation efforts in Yemen reflect willingness to serve our people & readiness to help others in distress, which is India’s ethos,” he added. According to reports in the Indian press, Modi was in direct contact with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman after the initiation of Operation Decisive Storm. India had to negotiate extensively with Saudi Arabia to gain safe access for its aircraft to Yemeni airports for evacuation operations.
Read the full story at The Diplomat