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No plans to evacuate nationals from Gulf: India >From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Mar 21 (IANS) India's airlines are continuing flights to the Gulf to ferry nationals returning in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq but the government has no plans to evacuate the 3.5 million Indians living in the region. An inter-ministerial group set up by India to monitor the Iraq crisis concluded Friday that there was still "no cause for panic" for the safety and security of Indians living in the Gulf region. Indian external affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna Friday dismissed reports that Kuwait airport had been closed and that state-owned Air-India and Indian Airlines had suspended operations to the region. "Kuwait airport is open and normal air operations by Air-India and Indian Airlines are carrying on," he told reporters. A review Friday by the Crisis Management Group headed by R.M. Abhyankar, secretary (Asia and North Africa) in the external affairs ministry, had concluded there was "no cause for panic" for Indians in the Gulf, Sarna said. Sarna noted that an Air-India flight had been rescheduled Friday when the airline upgraded it from an Airbus to a Boeing 747 aircraft capable of carrying 400 passengers. "We would like to reiterate that this is not an evacuation, these are normal flights and there is no backlog of passengers," he said. "The people coming back are coming of their own volition as commercial passengers." A total of 1,235 Indians had returned from Kuwait since Thursday, when U.S.-led forces launched strikes against Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, according to figures provided by Air-India Friday. Kuwait is home to some 350,000 Indian nationals. Sarna noted that only 118 of the 145 seats available on another Air-India flight scheduled for late Friday had been filled. The Crisis Management Group also undertook a comprehensive review of the situation following the U.S.-led attacks against Iraq as well as feedback received from Indian embassies in Gulf countries. The government had earlier prepared for any eventuality, should the need arise to evacuate Indian nationals. Four Air-India flights were despatched to bring from Kuwait some 1,200 Indians who had sought help to return. Two of the flights carrying 750 Indians landed in Mumbai on Thursday morning. --Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
