Transcript of Special Briefing by Foreign Secretary on Operation Kaveri (April 27, 2023)
India - Ministry of External Affairs
April 27, 2023
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: A very good morning to all of you. Thank you for joining us for this special media briefing on Operation Kaveri that is underway, to bring back Indians stranded in Sudan. To give us a sense of the operation so far and our plans, we have the privilege of having with us, Foreign Secretary sir, Shri Vinay Kwatra. Also joining us on the dais, Dr. Pradeep Rajpurohit, Joint Secretary (WANA) and Shri Satish Sivan, Joint Secretary (Rapid Response Cell) of the Ministry of External Affairs. So without further ado, let me hand over the floor to you sir.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you very much Arindam. Good morning to all of you and thank you for coming out this morning for this special briefing on Operation Kaveri, Government of India effort to help, assist and bring back the stranded Indians who are stuck in the conflict zone in Sudan. First, to mention that we are constantly monitoring the situation in Sudan ever since the conflict broke out there between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, which was on April 15. Thereafter, just to give you a flavor of the ground situation, several times ceasefires have been declared from both sides. Many of those ceasefires were not honored. Some of them were honored partially. The last ceasefire announced of 72 hours is holding by and large, but there have been, there has been feedback of some sporadic firing and fighting going on in some parts of Khartoum. Also, as a result of that, the situation on the ground remains highly volatile with the, as I said, conflicting report of claims coming from both sides. So, when we talk about Operation Kaveri, you know, naturally there would be a degree of focus on number of Indians who are stuck in Sudan, how many have come back, how many we are planning to bring back, which is a very significant and probably the most important consideration for Government of India. But I would also suggest to you to keep in mind the ecosystem in which this exercise of assisting and bringing back the stranded Indians is taking place. The ecosystem comprises of, as I said, highly volatile, conflict zone situation, in Sudan, pretty much very hard to access areas outside the Khartoum city, and I will talk about that as we go along.
Our estimate is that approximately, there are 3500 Indian nationals, and about 1000 odd PIOs in Sudan. As I said, these numbers are approximate numbers. And it is our effort to put as much specificity to those numbers as we can as we go along. And some of these numbers keep fluctuating, depending....or rather keep getting added, depending upon who reaches out to the Embassy, considering that they're all scattered, not just all over Khartoum city, but also in many parts of Sudan. The pockets of concentration are in Khartoum city and its suburbs. There are also pockets in Omdurman, Al Fashir, Kassala, Port Sudan, etc. where many of the Indian nationals are located. What we did was that as soon as the fighting broke out in Khartoum, our Embassy in Khartoum immediately alerted and....one, reached out to as many members of the Indian community as they could. As it turns out, they pretty much reached out to almost all of them by and large. Two, issued immediate advisories both in Khartoum city as well as in Delhi. Three, created a network of communication within Sudan despite the challenges of the network availability, power availability to charge your network, charge your devices, created a system, a group of network of communications through which they could.....one, pass on the information about the ongoing complex situation to the members of the community; two, advise them suitably not to take avoidable risks; three, also keep them informed about the efforts of Government of India underway, as part of Operation Kaveri to assist them and bring them out of the areas wherever stranded. They also.. Embassy also initiated a online registration process, which naturally had its challenges because as I said, the network availability and the power outages combined together, create a situation that online networks sometimes don't run fully well. So far about, it is our estimate that roughly 3400 Indian nationals have either registered online or they are in touch with the Embassy. More specifically I think 3000 odd have already registered online, 3100 and roughly an additional 300 are in touch with the Mission.
Embassy's principle thrust and Government of India's focus in this entire effort has been to advise and assist the stranded Indian nationals, advise them to remain safe and move them, help them move to secure locations whenever feasible, whether in the middle of the night or during the day, of course after carefully evaluating the complex situation on the ground. Furthermore, as soon as the conflict broke out, the Ministry of External Affairs set up a 24/7 control room, up on the third floor of this building. That control room continues to run 24/7 and will continue to do so, till we have overcome the current situation and resolved it fully.
As part of our efforts, the External Affairs Minister, Dr. Jaishankar also reached out to Foreign Ministers of other key partners whose nationals were also stuck in Sudan. These included Foreign Ministers of the U.S., UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and last night, Dr. Jaishankar also had a conversation with the UK Foreign Minister. This is over and above his meetings with the UN Secretary General in New York on April 20th, focused exclusively on the situation in Sudan, with a view to making an assessment that would help Government of India efforts to bring back the stranded Indians there. You would have seen reports of course that the honorable Prime Minister last Friday, chaired a high powered meeting, in which he personally reviewed and directed the officials of Government of India to take suitable measures, all suitable measures to assist and bring back the stranded Indians.
As part of our efforts, two C-130 aircrafts of Indian Air Force have been mobilized and are constantly positioned in Jeddah, have been there since 19th of April. We have also set up a control room in Jeddah and a control room in Port Sudan. So we have two control rooms working along with our Embassy. So there's a full triangulation of efforts between control room in Jeddah through our Consulate and Mission in Riyadh, through the control room team in Port Sudan, which is the northeastern coast of Sudan and our Embassy in Khartoum city. And of course, each of these three hubs are coordinating their efforts and direction to bring back the stranded Indians with the headquarters in Delhi. Two naval ships have also been positioned as part of Government of India efforts. INS Sumedha was the first one to dock, took up, picked up roughly 300 odd Indians yesterday, brought them to Port Jeddah and is today back in Port Sudan to fetch the next group of Indians and bring them to safe harbors. Yesterday, the other ship INS Teg also docked at Port Sudan bringing, of course our control rooms, control room team an additional resources which were required for this purposes of bringing back the stranded Indians. I'm informed that third ship INS Tarkash has also reached Port Sudan today as part of our efforts.
Now, as I mentioned in my earlier remarks, the conflict zone surrounded around the city of Khartoum. So when we started issuing advisories and started looking at the pathways to exit from the conflict zone into the safe areas, we had to pursue a land corridor of roughly 850 kms from Khartoum to Port Sudan. So just to orient you in terms of the scale, besides the number itself, just the sheer scale of Operation Kaveri; Khartoum City is the middle, 850 northeast of that is the Port Sudan, which is where, as I said, it's an area of relative safety with the ability for not only ships to dock but also the availability of airstrip for the C-130 aircraft or other aircraft to land there. Approximate journey time, depending upon whether you're traveling in the day or through the night can easily be between 12 to 18 hours. And add to that, there is another complexity of the availability of diesel fuel for buses. I know it sounds very trivial to talk about diesel availability and bus availability, but on the ground these are real logistical challenges which as part of our relentless and ongoing efforts were to be addressed, were addressed, resolved and we were successfully able to bring out a large number of Indians and numbers, I can talk to you later on about it.
Our Mission in Khartoum worked through and through, day and night, and managed to arrange buses at different locations in the Khartoum city to mobilize people, including from the particularly conflict areas in central Khartoum, in the two districts (Inaudible) district and Khartoum 1 and 2. When the first convoy left Khartoum city for Port Sudan, two of our Embassy officials accompanied that convoy in order to ensure that there were no problems on the way and if they were, then at least, they were handled and resolved. Mission also made arrangements along with the members of the community in Port Sudan, arrangements for stay and food for the stranded Indians at one of the facilities. And most importantly, when they reach Port Sudan, full arrangements were in place to provide them with necessary documentation mainly because being the conflict zone, all of them being in conflict zone, many of them did not, were not in a position to carry their documentation with them. So to facilitate their documentation was a critical necessity, before they could be evacuated out from there.
As we speak, we have a situation that roughly, in total 600 odd people, Indian nationals, have either arrived in India or are on their way. So 360 of them arrived by a charter Saudi Arabia flight yesterday night. Another 246 are being flown to Maharashtra state in a commissioned C-17 flight. We currently have approximately, give some leeway on the numbers, approximately 495 Indian nationals, who are in Jeddah, as of now that we speak. These numbers will either go up or come down depending upon the flows in from Port Sudan and depending upon the evacuation from Jeddah to India. Also as we speak there are 320 Indian nationals who are in Port Sudan currently stationed. We have more number of buses moving from Khartoum city to Port Sudan. And as I said, INS Sumedha, our ship is already there. INS Tarkash is about to dock there. We have two C-130J aircraft standing in Jeddah for more sorties, later during the day. So if you look at the network bridgehead line is from Khartoum to Port Sudan, Port Sudan to Jeddah, Jeddah to India. And we are trying to secure each point in this entire network of movement; Khartoum city through our Embassy and community, Port Sudan through Embassy, through the team which flew in from Jeddah to establish control room; in Jeddah through our Consulate and Mission in Riyadh, and, of course, at headquarters in close coordination with the Resident Commissioners of different state governments who are here.
Just to share some specifics with you, on 25th April, INS Sumedha brought 278 Indian nationals. It's the same INS Sumedha which has gone back and redocked today. And two sorties of C-130, brought in 121 and 135 passengers respectively. Yesterday on 26th April another batch of 297 Indians have sailed out on INS Teg and two more sorties of C-130 to evacuate another batch of 264 Indians. We have also made arrangements for the transit accommodation in Jeddah. And as you would have seen from the media reports coming in, honorable MOS V. Muraleedharan ji is in Jeddah to receive the stranded Indians who are coming in from Sudan into Jeddah and then onwards from Jeddah to India. As I mentioned, we as a Ministry, are also in close touch and coordinating with the Resident Commissioners of different state governments in Delhi, to ensure that their onward movement of the Indians who are returning is facilitated to the respective destinations that they want to go to.
Currently as of now, all our officials of the Mission and their family members are safe. The Embassy has been providing all possible support under such difficult circumstances to the Indian nationals there, under very clear direction, leadership and review by the honorable Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister himself.
I would stop here and if there are questions, we'll be happy to take them.
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Thank you, sir. We'll open the floor for questions. Please introduce yourself and the organization. I'll start with Srinjoy.
Srinjoy: Sir, Times Now. You've given a lot of figures of how many people have come by ship, by Teg. Tarkash is already there, Sumedha. You've spoken of the C17 and it's really a kind of taking people by plane up to certain part out of Sudan and all that. Apart from the people in Port Sudan, how many people are left in Sudan, how many Indians are left in Sudan, apart from those who are already in Port Sudan?
Sidhant: Sir, Sidhant from WION. Sir, the role Saudi Arabia played in the entire evacuation process, because we have our entire operation center in Jeddah. If you can elaborate on that.
Akhilesh Suman: Sir, Akhilesh Suman from Sansad TV. Whether they're giving us corridor, safe corridor for evacuation?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Who is they?
Akhilesh Suman: They means the warring groups, warring groups in Sudan. Are we taking any sort of consent that whether they will give some ceasefire, when people are moving from one place to another place.
Ayushi Agarwal: Sir Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. Sir, do we have any plans in place to evacuate citizens of other nations as well. We saw the tweet by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister. So do we have any plans based on that, and also, do we have any request from other countries who are seeking India's assistance in evacuation?
Rishikesh: Sir, Rishikesh from PTI. Do we have some kind of arrangement with RSF, as yesterday when people reached T3, they were saying that: when we were saying that we are Indians, then they would let us go ahead. So do we have some kind of arrangement with RSF. And second, as I understand several people also crossed border towards South Sudan. So if you can elaborate, the number of how many people arrived in South Sudan.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: I think let me just respond to the last point first, because it's a straightforward answer. Our understanding is that roughly 42 Indian Nationals moved to South Sudan, essentially, for evacuation purposes. It is also our understanding, again, more to the question of ANI, in terms of citizens of other countries. The numbers that we have is that there have been evacuation request from other nationalities also. So from our side, we are willing to provide and offer all possible assistance to everybody who approaches us for such an assistance. Of course, this is subject to the fulfillment of all the procedures, which may be required to be completed, because there is a transit country involved in this case, Saudi Arabia.
The third point which Sidhant you mentioned about the assistance by the Saudi authorities. Look, we have been working very closely with the Government of Saudi Arabia, the leadership of Saudi Arabia, and they have been extremely helpful, supportive and cooperative in this endeavor. And we are extremely grateful to them for that, because the positioning of our control room in Jeddah, providing of our assets who would bring back the stranded Indians in Jeddah, whether they are of Air Force or Navy. We have had excellent support and cooperation from the Saudi authorities for that. As EAM himself tweeted yesterday, we are extremely grateful to them for that.
Srinjoy, to your question on the number of people who are still in, I would say, Khartoum City and the Greater Khartoum area. Look, as I mentioned to you, the situation on the ground is very complex right now, highly volatile also, unpredictable, and both SAF and RSF....and we have been in touch with both sides mainly because our relationship with Sudan has been such, that we generally have good relationship and good equities with all sides. So we have been in touch with all sides to ensure that the Indians who are stranded in the conflict zone, our first priority is to get them out of the conflict zone into an area of greater safety within the Khartoum City. Once they have come to the greater safety zone, then from there, provide them with transport resources to able to move them from there to 850 kilometers northeast, to the Port Sudan. So far I've already shared with you the numbers, which are currently in Port Sudan, 320. Even as we speak, I don't want to give you the precise numbers, but substantial number of buses are currently on the way from Khartoum City to Port Sudan. So you will get an update on how many numbers would have left Khartoum to reach Port Sudan by this evening. But I would say if you were to put, if you were to total the Indian Nationals who have reached back India, the Indian Nationals who are in Jeddah, the Indian Nationals who are in Port Sudan, area of relative safety compared to Khartoum City, the number of people who are on the way from Khartoum City to Port Sudan, I would say, approximately, again this is an approximation but the precise numbers as and when we register, we'll get to know, I think we'd be touching close to about 2000 people who have already moved out from the conflict zone, I mean 1700 to 2000. As I said, it would not be correct for me to give specificity to these numbers, because of the conflict situation, the logistical challenges, the sheer availability of transport resources, etcetera, actually put a constraint.
Srinjoy: (inaudible).
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: As I said... no, you see. You have to understand when you say conflict zone, where is the conflict zone. So if you bracket, let's say, x number of Indian Nationals still in Khartoum City, it's not necessary that all of them may be in the conflict zone within the Khartoum City. There are other areas of Khartoum City, which are....the city itself is of course volatile, but it's a question of relative safety of different locations within the city. And I think given the complexity and the nature of this assistance, Operation Kaveri, I think, it would be absolutely incorrect for me to even speculate that x number. Our effort is to get every stranded Indian out of the harm's way into an area of relative safety, and then from there to Port Sudan and back here.
Manash Pratim Bhuyan: Sir, this is Manash Pratim Bhuyan from PTI. Sir, as you mentioned, we are in touch with all the sides in Sudan to ensure security and safety of the Indian Nationals. So what is your assessment, how long the ceasefire will hold actually, I mean when you're in touch with team, in fact? And what is our... I mean, do you have any target that in fact x number of Indians we wanted moved back to safer zones, and they will stay there.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Our target is as early as possible.
Yeshi Seli: This is Yeshi Seli from New Indian Express. You've mentioned that there are about 1000 PIOs. So are these people, do they have family back in India or will you be hosting them if they were to be evacuated, and as some already on the way.
Andrew: Sir, Andrew, BBC News. I was just wondering if you can speak to the security challenges that that these buses face when they undertake the journey, back to Port Sudan given that the situation is complex. Thank you.
Chandrakala: This is Chandrakala from ETV Bharat. Sir, my question is when you talk about India's role, how do you see or what would be our comment if we talk about... do you think that India is seen as a neutral partner, party in the Sudan crisis basically. You've already talked about the logistics challenges. So how is the Government and the diplomats managing basically?
Umashankar Singh: Umashankar NDTV se. Aapne kaha SAF aur RSF dono ke sath sampark me hai. Jitne Bhartiyon ko nikala gaya, wo jo ilake hai wo kya zyada RSF ke dabdabe wale, unke kabze wale hai, ya SAF ke kabze wale, aur dono ka response kaisa hai? Dono ek saman cooperate kar rahe hai?
(Question in Hindi: Approximate translation) Umashankar from NDTV. You said, you are in contact with both SAF and RSF. Indians that have been evacuated, those areas, are they more RSF dominant or RSF controlled, or they're under control of SAF, and what's the response from both of them? Are they both equally cooperative?
Ileana: Ileana, TASS News Agency. Good morning, sirs. Does India have enough facilities to help other countries in the evacuation of foreign nationals? Has India had such request from other countries, and is India ready to help other countries in evacuation?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Sorry, I think Foreign Secretary just answered that question.
Ileana: In particular, of course, I am interested in helping in evacuation of Russian citizens. Have you got such a request or not?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Yeah, he just answered the question, but anyway. Okay, sir, we'll take one more round as a few more questions left.
Speaker: Sir, you just mentioned that India has good relations, I mean, has been in talks with both the warring factions. So if need be, is India willing to play a role in mediation process as well, if required?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Actually the focus was on Operation Kaveri, but anyway, I'll let FS that it. There are a few more questions. We'll take one more quick round, sir.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Okay. So Manas first to repeat answer to your question, our objective and target is to take the stranded Indians out of the harm's way as early as possible, that's the objective, as early as possible. It's the function of several things which I just mentioned. Yeshi, can you just repeat the sense of your question. I didn't quite get it.
Yeshi Seli: You said that there are 1000 (Inaudible).
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: See, as I mentioned there are roughly....according to our estimates and our estimates may be slightly off the mark, 900 to 1000 persons of Indian origin there. These are persons of Indian origin who have been living in Sudan for over 100 years. So they have deep roots in that part of the society, but should these PIOs be interested in moving to an area of relative safety, naturally, whatever we can do under the circumstances, we would definitely provide all assistance to them.
To the BBC question on the security situation, on the way during the process of mobilization and movement of Indians, from the middle of the conflict zone to Port Sudan, I have already shared with you that the security situation on the ground is highly complex, within the Khartoum city and then extending to the other parts of the country. All I would say is that during the movement and mobilization of stranded Indians from Khartoum city to Port Sudan, whatever issues were faced on the way, whether they were logistical challenges or whether those were challenges, to ensure that all through the path of the corridor, there are no obstacles to the movement, those were addressed by the Embassy and resolved in a manner that ensured that our people reach Port Sudan and then from Port Sudan to Jeddah, which was the central objective, which is the central objective of Operation Kaveri.
The question from ETV on....I've already spoken about logistical challenges, so I would not repeat in that sense, but as I said, we've had good relations, we've always enjoyed good relationship with all the stakeholders in Sudan. So naturally, when a situation like this presents itself, there is always a certain view that the stakeholders in Sudan would take of, what does India stand for, what do Indian people represent. So they all recognize that India stands for a very strong development partnership with Sudan. They see Indian Nationals as good citizens who are there essentially to help in the partnership between India and Sudan. And, naturally, when we have conversation with all stakeholders and talk about the challenges and the need for us to take out our people from harm's way, all stakeholders respond accordingly, based on how they position India in terms of the relationship between the two countries.
Dekhiye Umashankar ji, wo jaha pe ladai chal rahi hai, wo pura ilaka jo hai bahut hi asthir or parivartanshil hai. To yadi mai kahu ke is ilake me RSF ka dabdaba hai, us ilake me SAF ka dabdaba hai, ho sakta hai ke do ghante bad sthiti parivartit ho jaye, to ye kehna ke, kin kshetron me SAF ka varchasva hai aur kin kshetron me RSF control me hai, sthiti ki asthirta ko dekhte hue, aisi koi bhi tippani karna mere khayal se tathya aadharit bhi nahi hoga, kyuki ground pe jo situation hai wo lagatar badal rahi hai.
(Answered in Hindi: Approximate translation) See Mr. Umashankar, the area where conflict is going on is very unstable and variable. So I can't really say which area is RSF dominant and which one is SAF dominant. The situation can change any time in a couple of hours, so for me to make any such statement as to which areas are in SAF control or in RSF control, given the instability of situation, will not be based on facts, because the ground situation is changing regularly.
We have received, I think to the question from TASS agency, a few request from foreign countries for evacuation. As I said, our effort is to help everybody we can, subject to of course, as I said, the regulations of the transit country also, which has to receive them. But from our side, we'll try anybody whom we can to move out of conflict area into the safety. Of course, we have to prioritize naturally Indian nationals who are there.
Ileana: from Russia?
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: I can check and get back to you on that one.
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: I think the last question was on warring factions. I think warring factions are answered already.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: I think that question I've already answered.
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Since there's interest, we'll just take a few, but I can't take that many questions. Yes ma'am, go ahead.
Suchitra: Sir, I am Suchitra from News 18 Tamil. Sir, I would like to know whether any more of Indian citizens are injured during the conflict, are rescued from the (Inaudible)
Sanjay: Yes, sir, Sanjay here from Arab News. My question is that, as you said that Saudi Arabia is providing logistical support in Jeddah. Is Saudi Arabia also providing strategic support on the ground in evacuation of the Indian nationals in Sudan?
Vishal Pandey: Sir, mai Vishal Pandey hu Zee News se. Aapne jankari di ke lagbhag 2000 nagriko ko conflict zone se bahar nikala ja chuka hai. Koi estimated time ki jo Operation Kaveri hai kab tak wo khatam hoga? Halake halat waha pe bahut thik nahi hai.
(Question in Hindi: Approximate translation) Sir, I am Vishal Pandey from Zee News. You just informed that approximately 2000 citizens have been evacuated from conflict zone. Can you provide any estimated time as to when Operation Kaveri will be completed. Even though, situation there is not well at this time.
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Abi to jawab diya tha unhone. Anyway, I'll take that. Time janna chahte hain.
(Answered in Hindi: Approximate translation) He just answered that. Anyway, I'll take that. You want to know the time.
Shailesh Kumar: Sir, I am Shailesh Kumar from National Defence. We have seen overwhelmingly successful operation during Operation Ganga, Vande Bharat and current ongoing Operation Kaveri. Sir, I want to understand what do you attribute it to whether the soft part of India or the hard power of India growing, and we are successful in carrying out operations at such a large scale, almost very distant part of the world?
Urvashi: Sir, Urvashi this side from The New Indian. First question sir, the name Kaveri has come with what significance the name has been, you know, put out and one, what is a thing to Indians stranded who are still not able to get in touch with the embassies. You're saying certain numbers, so what is it that you have to request them?
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Who request whom?
Urvashi: I mean people who are stranded, people......
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Message. Okay.
Vishal: Sir this is Vishal from DD News. Though the question has already been asked but still I would like to frame. Do you think that the current situation and the way Indian Government is handling it, is it rise of new India power globally?
Sarjana Sharma: Namaskar sir main Sarjana Sharma Sanmarg se hu. Apne jaisa kaha ki ap dono paksho se sampark me hai. Aur kya aap ye umeed rakhte hai ki jab 850 kilometer ka lamba corridor, route corridor hoga to safe passage denge ye dono paksh Bharatiyo ko aur kisi tarah ki hinsa nahi karenge unke saath?
(Question in Hindi: Approximate translation) Hello Sir, I am Sarjana Sharma from Sanmarg. As you mentioned, you are in contact with both sides. And that this is 850 kilometer long corridor, route corridor, do you expect that both sides will provide safe passage to Indians and will not cause any harm to them?
Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary of India: Sarjana ji jo apka prasna hai ki wo safe passage denge, kisi ko hatahat nahi karenge, uska pramaan to lagbhag 1700 un nagariko mai hai jo ki surakshit roop se nikal chuke hain, to wo apne aap mai pramaan hain ke jo land corridor hai 850 kilometer ka wo kis prakar se jo hai ground pe kaam kar raha hai.
(Answered in Hindi: Approximate translation) Sarjana ji, your question was that whether they will provide safe passage, whether they will not cause harm to anybody. This is evident in those 1700 citizens who have been safely evacuated; this is the proof itself of how 850 kilometer land corridor is working on the ground.
This question about the dead or injured Indians that you talked...I think we have had one very unfortunate and regrettable case where Mr. Albert Augustine, who was killed, when he was in a conflict zone with a stray bullet. We understand his body is still in Khartoum and our Embassy is in touch with all the stakeholders to ensure that, you know, we address this issue correctly. I understand that family has already been moved to India and we are in touch with them and we will provide whatever you know, mitigation and addressal needs to be provided to the bereaved family.
Vishal ji jo apka prasna tha kab tak ye chalega. Main ek hi sabd mai kaunga, sighra ati shighra. Pahele bhi keh chuka hu, humara prayas hain ke jo bhi Bharatiya nagarik is samaya yudh ke kshetra mai fase huwe hain jitni jaldi ho sake, sighra ati sighra unko waha se nikal ke ek surakshit sthan pe pahuchaya jaye aur uske baad yathochit madhyamo se unka Bharat mai, Bharat wapasi ka jo hain marg prashast kiya jaye.
(Answered in Hindi: Approximate translation) Vishal ji, your question was how long will this go on? I will say it in one word: as early as possible. I have already this, said that our effort is to safely and quickly evacuate all Indian citizens who are currently stuck in the conflict zone. After bringing them to a safe place, appropriate means to be arranged for their return to India.
I think Mr. Shailesh, you asked the question, what do you attribute the success to hard power, soft power? And you know, there was also a related question by Vishal from DD News, on rise of India, whether this signifies....and what does it mean? I think the first and foremost, what this represents is honorable Prime Minister's relentless commitment and Government of India's absolute resolve that we will always help our own people when they are stuck in difficult situation. All the operations that we discussed, which were mentioned in the question, are manifestations of that commitment; that come what may, we will do all it requires to be done to bring them to safety if they are in conflict zone and to offer all other kinds of assistance. That has always been from day one, the direction of honorable Prime Minister and from day one, a key line of effort and objective of the Ministry of External Affairs. I think here we are talking about safety of Indian nationals, their security, bringing them back to India safely. That is the central objective here and we remain absolutely focused on that as directed by the honorable Prime Minister.
You talked about the name of the operation, Operation Kaveri, question relating to that. Look, there is a mechanism for naming such operations and you have seen in the past, we have also used operation like Operation Ganga. I think it was, it was mentioned earlier on also, named after river. But there is no sort of fixed rule, etc to do that. There is a certain consideration which goes into it and the name is picked up. And that's all there is to it.
Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary of India: With regard to the support of the Saudi Government, I've already mentioned quite at length that we have had....we have received excellent cooperation and support from the Saudi Government with regard to the arrangements in Jeddah and not just arrangement but also support in ensuring that the incoming transit from Port Sudan into Jeddah is smooth. I understand that the Saudi Government also earlier on evacuated three Indian nationals. I am told; I'm not very certain, but I'm told as per media reports that they essentially were employees of Saudi airlines who were stuck in Sudan and they were taken out. So we have had excellent support and cooperation of the Saudi Government and as I said, we are extremely thankful to them for that. Thank you.
Shri Arindam Bagchi, Official Spokesperson: Thank you very much, sir for taking so many questions. Appreciate your presence here sir, and also of Dr. Pradeep Rajpurohit as well as Shri Satish Sivan. Thank you all for joining us, stay tuned, we will continue to update you through social media and otherwise what are, how the evacuation and the operation Kaveri progresses. Thank you.
Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary of India: Thank you very much.
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