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'All Indians in Kuwait are safe' >From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Mar 24 (IANS) Indian nationals living in Kuwait are safe and work permits and visas of expatriates who leave due to the U.S.-led invasion in neighbouring Iraq would not be revoked, Kuwait's envoy to India said Monday. Abdullah A. Al-Murad, the Kuwaiti ambassador, dismissed reports that the Kuwait airport might be closed due to the hostilities in Iraq and said his country would provide all necessary cooperation to New Delhi should the need arise to evacuate Indians. But the envoy noted that Indians were not leaving Kuwait in large numbers even as the U.S.-led military campaign against Baghdad entered its fifth day. "All Indians (living in Kuwait) are treated just as the Kuwaitis and they are in safe places," he said. "If you go and check the Indian aircraft coming back from Kuwait, you will find they are empty. There has also been no cancellation of flights." Kuwait is home to some 350,000 Indians. India has said it has no plans so far to evacuate its nationals from Kuwait, but some 3,000 of them have returned on special flights operated by Air India since the war against Iraq started on Thursday. "The Kuwaiti Constitution protects Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis," Al-Murad said, noting that visas of Indian nationals who chose to return would not be revoked. Al-Murad indicated that the Indians would be safe even if Iraq used long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction it is believed to possess against Kuwait. Kuwait, he said, was not a part of the war against Iraq. "We are against this war, but now that this war has started, we have to push for it to be ended with the least casualties," he said. He noted that Kuwait believed the agenda of the U.S.-led forces was "to liberate Iraq and to have a peaceful government with Iraqis in it and not with others". India's stand on the war, he said, was balanced. "There is no difference between our stand and that of India." Referring to protests in Arab countries against the U.S.-led invasion, Al-Murad said: "We (the Arabs) are very emotional. When the Americans come, we go to the streets. "Let them win the war (in Iraq), and then you will see Iraqis will dance and receive Americans with flowers." Noting that Kuwait had traditionally never had defence ties with any major powers, Al-Murad said his country had been forced to sign military cooperation agreements with the five permanent members of the United Nationals Security Council after Iraq invaded it in 1991. "Iraqi President Saddam Hussein obliged us to bring (foreign troops) to Kuwait. If any one is to be blamed, it is the Iraqi regime," he said. The information office in the Kuwaiti embassy Monday launched a special "news room" on its website, www.kuwait-info.com, to provide up-to-date information on the situation in the Gulf region. --Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
