Sushma says V.K.Singh led from the front

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the External Affairs Ministry for the evacuation operations in Yemen, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday informed the Lok Sabha that India not only rescued its own nationals from the war-torn country, but also helped in the evacuation of citizens of as many as 48 countries.

“We not only managed to safely evacuate 4,741 Indians, but also 1,947 foreign nationals from 48 countries till April 18 under the most difficult circumstances,” Ms. Swaraj said amid sloganeering by the Opposition.

Praising her Minister of State Gen. (retd) V.K. Singh, she said he led from the front like a General. He personally supervised all rescue efforts from the camp office in Djibouti and “shuttled between Sana’a and Djibouti, sparing no effort to accomplish this difficult task.” Highlighting the efforts made by the Indian forces, she said Indian personnel helped nationals of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia, all of which faced difficulties in evacuating their people.

“As the Indian embassy was among the handful of foreign missions operational in Sana’a after the airstrikes began, we received formal requests from 33 countries, including neighbouring and Western countries, for assistance in evacuation of their nationals. We responded positively to these requests based on ground realities ,” Ms Swaraj informed the House.

Ms. Swaraj said in view of the worsening security situation in Sana’a and after the successful conclusion of the evacuation process, the Indian Embassy has been relocated to Djibouti till the situation returns to normalcy in Yemen.