IRAQ: India sets up crisis management group for war

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is from the Qatar News Agency (QNA)

NEW DELHI, Mar 18 2003 (IPS) - India has activated a high-level crisis management group (CMG) to deal with the fallout of a United States-led attack on Iraq, according to news reports Tuesday.

The main tasks of the CMG will be to review the situation in the Gulf region and implement the elaborate evacuation plan for Indian nationals, the ‘Asian Age’ newspaper reported.

The CMG comprises senior officials from the ministries of external affairs, aviation, defense, petroleum and natural gas, and labor.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Navtej Sharma said the group held its first meeting Monday.

While India’s Ambassador to Iraq B.B. Tyagi and the rest of the mission staff have already moved to Amman, Jordan, around 30 Indian nationals have refused to leave, according to the ‘Asian Age’.

They include three nuns from the Missionaries of Charity in Baghdad, eight relief workers in Karbala, four students in Najaf and 14 businessmen.