India, Iraq to set up joint committee for evacuation of stranded Indians

The Ministry of External Affairs yesterday said that  India and Iraq would set up a Joint Committee, which would handle issues immigration issues and facilitate evacuation of Indians stranded in the country. “On our side there will be officials from the Embassy, on the Iraqi side there will be officials from the Home and Interior Ministry relating to immigration, so that those Indian nationals who may have problems relating to their immigration status can be facilitated and assisted to travel if they so desire to travel,” MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said during a daily MEA briefing that was held on Monday evening. In addition to the joint committee, Akbaruddin added that a further 17 Indians had been rescued, and would be returning home soon. “With the help of the local authorities, been able to evacuate 17 more of our nationals from the zone of conflict. They are now in Baghdad and will go back to their homes very shortly”, he said. [caption id=“attachment_1581951” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] As for the 46 Indian national workers who were abducted from Mosul, Akbaruddin said that they were able to confirm that they remain unharmed, adding that efforts to rescue them were continuing. In terms of the 46 nurses  from Kerala who are stranded in Tikrit, Akbaruddin said, “They remain safe and there has not been any threat to their safety and security. They have food stocks, nobody has intruded into their premises”. The MEA also said that it had set up camp offices of the Indian embassy in southern cities of Iraq to assist Indians nationals there. “…We have decided to set up camp offices of the Indian Embassy in Najaf, Karbala, and Basra. These offices will provide facilitation of every sort to any Indian national who requires assistance,” he said. In a brisk onslaught in the last two weeks, Militants have seized several towns in Northern Iraq as the government failed to prevent heavily armed and organised ISIS. 39 Indian workers were kidnapped by militants from Mosul last week. The MEA has since confirmed that they have located the hostages and are working to bring them back.