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Indian nationals wanting to leave Iraq but unable to pay for their tickets will be assisted through the India Community Welfare Fund in Iraq. This decision was taken at a review meeting convened by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday.
To facilitate travel of Indians, the Indian authorities are working with the Iraqi authorities to allow Indians to exit from a city different from the one that they entered in that country. Iraqi visa rules specify that a foreigner has to enter and exit from the same city.
“We have taken up this issue with the Iraqi authorities and they are amenable to the request. We hope that this issue will be sorted out in a day’s time,” a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said.
In addition, the Ministry of Overseas Indians has stopped granting Emigration Clearance for Iraq for one month since Thursday night, the spokesman added.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high powered meeting on the situation in Iraq, which was attended by the ministers for Home and External Affairs, the National Security Advisor, heads of security and intelligence agencies, the Cabinet Secretary, Foreign Secretary and senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs.
At least 16 of the 120 Indians in the conflict zone were being brought back to India on Friday including eight people working on a Lanco project in Iraq.
In response to a question, the spokesperson said, “We are knocking on all doors. As diplomats it is normal for us to knock on front doors. However, we are also knocking on back doors and working out measures through trap doors.”
Given that India enjoys a lot of goodwill in the region, asked whether there was a possibility of establishing a safe corridor between Mosul and Baghdad and Tikrit and Baghdad to allow safe passage of Indians, the spokesperson said, “When lives of our nationals are involved no option is off the table”.
The spokesperson confirmed that one of the 40 Indian construction workers being held in captivity in Mosul had escaped and had been in touch with the Indian Embassy in Baghdad for some time.
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