External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India's ships and aircraft are set to bring the Indians back home.
Published Apr 24, 2023 | 6:16 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 24, 2023 | 6:16 PM
The stranded people in Sudan who are all set to travel back to India. (Twitter)
The Union government on Monday, 24 April, launched Operation Kaveri to evacuate Indian nationals from violence-hit Sudan.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India’s ships and aircraft are set to bring the Indians back home.
“Operation Kaveri gets underway to bring back our citizens stranded in Sudan. About 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan. More on their way,” Jaishankar tweeted.
“Our ships and aircraft are set to bring them back home. Committed to assisting all our brethren in Sudan,” he said.
India on Sunday said it has positioned two transport aircraft of the IAF in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah and a naval ship at a key port in Sudan as part of its contingency plans to evacuate the stranded Indians.
The government had on Friday said it was focusing on the safety of over 3,000 Indian citizens presently located throughout Sudan.
Earlier, The external affairs minister drew the ire of Kannada activists and Congress leaders alike after he deemed an appeal by Siddaramaiah to evacuate Kannadigas stranded in Sudan as “politics”.
The Twitter spat between the two leaders over members of the Hakki-Pikki tribe stranded in violence-torn Sudan ended with Siddaramaiah schooling Jaishankar on his job as EAM.
Operation Kaveri gets underway to bring back our citizens stranded in Sudan.
About 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan. More on their way.
Our ships and aircraft are set to bring them back home.
Committed to assist all our bretheren in Sudan. pic.twitter.com/8EOoDfhlbZ
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) April 24, 2023
It all started with an appeal Siddaramaiah made via a tweet urging the Union government to ensure the safe return of 31 people from Karnataka stranded in Sudan.
Siddaramaiah pointed to how members of the Hakki Pikki tribe were left stranded without food and the Union government was yet to initiate the process of bringing them back.
S Jaishankar was quick to accuse Siddaramaiah, a former chief minister, of “playing politics” and said he was “appalled”.
While Jaishankar’s stance was endorsed and reiterated by several other BJP leaders including the likes of MP and BJYM President Tejasvi Surya, the external affairs minister came under severe fire for attributing political motives to an appeal for help.
In fact, several publications in Karnataka highlighted that those stranded in Sudan were from the Hakki Pikki tribe. Siddaramaiah was not the first to highlight the same.
Not the one to take the rude reaction by the Union minister lying down, Siddaramaiah reminded Jaishankar of his job as EAM in a tweet dripping with sarcasm.
Close to 200 people from the Hakki-Pikki tribe are stranded in Sudan, according to a person belonging to the tribe, who is among the stranded.
“It has been five days since the power was cut off at the lodge — Labicalia — where we are holed up. The owner and other staff have abandoned the building and escaped to safety. The sound of firing could be heard in the distance during the first three days; now, the sound of heavy firing is getting closer,” Sairaj Kirg, a 25-year-old Hakki-Pikki oil trader, a native of Hunsur taluk in Mysuru district, told South First about his plight being stranded Khartoum, the capital of war-torn Sudan, even as he shared a video of an adjacent building that was on fire.
On 15 April, Albert Augestine — a retired soldier hailing from Kannur in Kerala — was killed during the unrest in Sudan.
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group for the last 11 days that has reportedly left around 400 people dead.
(With PTI inputs)
