- Saturday, May 04, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
India is closely engaging with various countries to ensure safety and security of its nationals stranded in Sudan where fierce clashes between the military and paramilitary started on Saturday (15), CNBC TV18 reported citing sources.
The violence has claimed 270 lives so far while more than 2,600 people were injured. One Indian national from the southern state of Kerala was also killed by a stray bullet on Saturday.
Concerns were raised in India over the news that 31 people belonging to the Hakki Pikki community in the southern state of Karnataka got stuck in the north African nation.
The matter also sparked a political controversy after a former chief minister of Karnataka and leader of the opposition Indian National Congress, Siddaramaiah, accused the Narendra Modi government of not doing enough for the safety of the stranded tribal people. India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar counter accused him of doing politics at a critical time.
CNBC TV18 cited sources as saying that Jaishankar spoke to his counterparts in countries such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates who reportedly assured their practical support on the ground. They added that apart from Saudi and UAE, the US and UK also play a key role and India was “engaging them accordingly”.
“Our ambassador in Washington DC and high commissioner in London are in touch with their respective host governments. We are also working with the UN, which has a substantial presence in Sudan,” the sources were quoted as saying by CNBC TV18.
It was also learnt that New Delhi set up a dedicated control room for the situation in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and was in continuous touch with its embassy in Khartoum and getting regular updates on the status of the Indian community.
They also said that the situation on the street in the Sudanese capital was “very tense” and warned that movement was very risky.
The Indian embassy has been regularly urging Indians not to venture out of their homes during the violence and stay composed.
