External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with MoS External Affairs, General (Retd.) VK Singh and Ambassadors of Gulf countries during a meeting to discuss the problems faced by Indians workers in Gulf countries in New Delhi on Sunday.
External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj today held a high-level meeting with top government officials and Indian envoys to Gulf countries to discuss the situation in conflict-hit Iraq where 39 Indians were kidnapped and are being held captive.
The Indian workers remain "unharmed", Foreign Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin had said on Saturday, adding there were some leads available about them on which work was on.
Apart from the Indian envoys, the Ambassadors of Gulf countries posted in India also attended the meeting. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth and officials of the National Crisis Management Committee were also present.
The meeting was aimed at chalking out a future strategy for the safety and evacuation of Indian nationals in Iraq and a review of the steps taken so far in this regard.
India has set up three camp offices to facilitate the departure of 10,000 Indians from non-conflict zones in Iraq. Giving details of the camp offices, Mr Akbaruddin had said yesterday that the officers in these camps would go to the place of work of Indians and facilitate their departure if they wanted so. Besides providing travel documents, the ministry would also provide free air tickets to those who couldn't afford them.
(Iraq Crisis: Assistance Camps Set Up For Indian Nationals)He had also said that the ministry was "knocking on every door" to get whatever help was possible for the safety of Indian nationals and asserted that all national assets were in readiness should there be a need.
Iraq is witnessing serious strife with Sunni militants, backed by the Al Qaeda, marching towards the capital Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced in the fighting that broke out on June 10.
(A Reignited War Drives Iraqis Out in Huge Numbers)