Vietnam appreciates "enormity and scale of action taken in India to enforce social distancing through the lockdown to contain the spread of novel coronavirus," says Indian envoy to Vietnam Pranay Verma.

In an exclusive conversation from Hanoi with WION's diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, he said both India and Vietnam have shared best practices on dealing with the crisis.

Verma further said that no Indian COVID-19 case in Vietnam even as the mission reaches out to stranded Indians.&nbsp;

Most of the stranded Indians in the country are tourist, business travellers, short term visitors, he said.

India engagement on pharmaceuticals with Vietnam continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said and added, both India and Vietnam have witnessed among the lowest per capita incidents of infections.

Vietnam appreciates "enormity and scale of action taken in India to enforce social distancing through the lockdown to contain the spread of novel coronavirus," says Indian envoy to Vietnam Pranay Verma.

Vietnam appreciates "enormity and scale of action taken in India to enforce social distancing through the lockdown to contain the spread of novel coronavirus," says Indian envoy to Vietnam Pranay Verma. In an exclusive conversation from Hanoi with WION's diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, he said both India and Vietnam have shared best practices on dealing with the crisis. Verma further said that no Indian COVID-19 case in Vietnam even as the mission reaches out to stranded Indians. Most of the stranded Indians in the country are tourist, business travellers, short term visitors, he said. India engagement on pharmaceuticals with Vietnam continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said and added, both India and Vietnam have witnessed among the lowest per capita incidents of infections.

India, Vietnam witnessed among lowest per capita incidents of infections: Indian envoy to Vietnam 

Independent India's largest repatriation&nbsp;mission&nbsp;to bring back its citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 pandemic is all set to begin with New Delhi giving the formal green signal. India will be evacuating 1,92,000 people in the first phase of the evacuation starting May 7th with the focus on the Gulf.&nbsp;

UAE will be the first country from were India will start the evacuation with the first two Air India flights landing in Kerala on May 7th. One flight will fly from Abu Dhabi to Kochi and another from Dubai to Kozhikode on the same&nbsp;day. A number of blue-collared Indians are stranded in the country who have registered themselves for evacuation.&nbsp;

India's envoy to UAE Pavan Kapoor speaking exclusively to WION said, "I am glad that we are starting this process of repatriation for those who urgently need to return to India. We look forward to working closely with the UAE authorities to make this process as smooth and efficient as we can."

The largest-ever evacuation carried out by India was the 1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait during the Gulf War in which 170,000 Indian expatriates were from the west Asian country.

In the first phase itself, India will start evacuation of its citizens from the neighbourhood with Maldives and Bangladesh being the focus. On 8th May, 700 Indians will be evacuated from Male to Kochi by Indian Naval ship.

In the second phase, India will start evacuation of its citizens from Iran, USA, UK and Malaysia. Indian missions across the world are already preparing a list of distressed Indian citizens.

Sources told WION, "Data collection ongoing in most missions, with some looking at dates for evacuation and making all necessary arrangements accordingly."

Several missions have opened registration for the stranded Indians.

Around 11,000 stranded Indians have registered with Indian mission in Moscow, 1200&nbsp; in New Zealand, 390 Indian nationals have so far registered with High Commission of Nairobi, 2000 at India's mission in Canada and five Indians in Somalia have also registered so that they can get back home.

Only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel and Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for the evacuation had been prepared in this regard.

"State Governments are being advised to make arrangements, including for testing, quarantine and onward movement of the returning Indians in their respective States.", MHA in a statement said.

The evacuation will only be on "compelling grounds" and will be done via planes and naval ships on payment basis and non-scheduled commercial flights would be arranged for air travel. During the evacuation, all health protocols like social distancing norms will have to be followed.

INS Jalashwa, Indian Navy's largest Amphibious platform (Landing Platform Dock). is already at sea. It is likely to be sent for evacuation. It can carry 1000 troops. With the current social distancing, norms it can carry 500-700 people. 2 to 3 Landing Ship Tanks (LST) are likely to be deployed. India has 2 class of LST-- Magar class and Shardul.

The evacuees after reaching the destination would have to register on the Indian government's Aarogya Setu app which has been developed to alert about COVID-19 crisis and alerts regarding it. After being medically screened, they will be quarantined for 14 days in a hospital or an institutional quarantine on payment-basis by the State governments which will be followed by COVID test at the end of the given period.

Earlier this year, India brought back approximately 2500 of its citizens and 48 foreign nationals from China, Japan, Iran and Italy.

2015 Operation Raahat saw India bringing back around 4600 of its citizens while Operation Sankat Mochan of 2016 saw India bringing back 600 of its nationals from South Sudan. 2011 Operation Safe Homecoming to bring back Indians from war-torn Libya saw 15000 Indian nationals being brought back.

The first decade of the century saw Operation Sukoon in which Indian Navy got back 1764 Indians and was the largest evacuation operations conducted by the Navy since World War II.

Independent India's largest repatriation mission to bring back its citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 pandemic is all set to begin with New Delhi giving the formal green signal.

Independent India's largest repatriation mission to bring back its citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 pandemic is all set to begin with New Delhi giving the formal green signal. India will be evacuating 1,92,000 people in the first phase of the evacuation starting May 7th with the focus on the Gulf. UAE will be the first country from were India will start the evacuation with the first two Air India flights landing in Kerala on May 7th. One flight will fly from Abu Dhabi to Kochi and another from Dubai to Kozhikode on the same day. A number of blue-collared Indians are stranded in the country who have registered themselves for evacuation. India's envoy to UAE Pavan Kapoor speaking exclusively to WION said, "I am glad that we are starting this process of repatriation for those who urgently need to return to India. We look forward to working closely with the UAE authorities to make this process as smooth and efficient as we can." The largest-ever evacuation carried out by India was the 1990 airlift of Indians from Kuwait during the Gulf War in which 170,000 Indian expatriates were from the west Asian country. In the first phase itself, India will start evacuation of its citizens from the neighbourhood with Maldives and Bangladesh being the focus. On 8th May, 700 Indians will be evacuated from Male to Kochi by Indian Naval ship. In the second phase, India will start evacuation of its citizens from Iran, USA, UK and Malaysia. Indian missions across the world are already preparing a list of distressed Indian citizens. Sources told WION, "Data collection ongoing in most missions, with some looking at dates for evacuation and making all necessary arrangements accordingly." Several missions have opened registration for the stranded Indians. Around 11,000 stranded Indians have registered with Indian mission in Moscow, 1200 in New Zealand, 390 Indian nationals have so far registered with High Commission of Nairobi, 2000 at India's mission in Canada and five Indians in Somalia have also registered so that they can get back home. Only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel and Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for the evacuation had been prepared in this regard. "State Governments are being advised to make arrangements, including for testing, quarantine and onward movement of the returning Indians in their respective States.", MHA in a statement said. The evacuation will only be on "compelling grounds" and will be done via planes and naval ships on payment basis and non-scheduled commercial flights would be arranged for air travel. During the evacuation, all health protocols like social distancing norms will have to be followed. INS Jalashwa, Indian Navy's largest Amphibious platform (Landing Platform Dock). is already at sea. It is likely to be sent for evacuation. It can carry 1000 troops. With the current social distancing, norms it can carry 500-700 people. 2 to 3 Landing Ship Tanks (LST) are likely to be deployed. India has 2 class of LST-- Magar class and Shardul. The evacuees after reaching the destination would have to register on the Indian government's Aarogya Setu app which has been developed to alert about COVID-19 crisis and alerts regarding it. After being medically screened, they will be quarantined for 14 days in a hospital or an institutional quarantine on payment-basis by the State governments which will be followed by COVID test at the end of the given period. Earlier this year, India brought back approximately 2500 of its citizens and 48 foreign nationals from China, Japan, Iran and Italy. 2015 Operation Raahat saw India bringing back around 4600 of its citizens while Operation Sankat Mochan of 2016 saw India bringing back 600 of its nationals from South Sudan. 2011 Operation Safe Homecoming to bring back Indians from war-torn Libya saw 15000 Indian nationals being brought back. The first decade of the century saw Operation Sukoon in which Indian Navy got back 1764 Indians and was the largest evacuation operations conducted by the Navy since World War II.

India to undertake largest repatriation mission to bring back its citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 pandemic

In a significant development, Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi will participate in a video conference meeting of non-alignment movement (NAM) on COVID crisis. The meeting that will happen in at around 4.30 pm IST will see External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also present.&nbsp;

This is the first time PM Modi is taking part in a NAM meeting since taking 2014 when he first became the Prime Minister. The last time any Indian PM participated at Tehran NAM meet was 2012 with the then PM Manmohan Singh was present.&nbsp;

Both in 2016, 2018 summits of NAM, India was represented at Vice President level. The last NAM Summit happened in 2019 in Azerbaijan, before that it was 2016 in Venezuela.

Azerbaijan is the president of the grouping from 2019-2022 and the meet is being organised under the leadership of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. The title of the summit is "We stand together against COVID-19".&nbsp;

"We hope that the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group's Summit will make a significant contribution to the mobilization of NAM member states in the fight against coronavirus, strengthening of solidarity and multilateralism," Hikmat Hajiyev, Head of the Department for Foreign Policy Affairs of Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration said as quoted by Azerbaijan State News Agency or azertac.

The meet on COVID comes even as other multilateral groupings like G20, BRICS and regional groupings like SAARC are having video conferences to come out with a coordinated approach on the pandemic. &nbsp;

Non-Aligned Movement is an idea that emerged in 1950 and the initiative was led by the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Present of erstwhile Yugoslav Josip Broz Tito.&nbsp;

NAM is the second-largest platform globally in terms of country membership after the UN. While it currently has 120 member states, 17 states which are observers in the last few years the grouping has lost the main rationale of the existence of remaining equidistant to 2 powers—US and the Soviet Union, after the disintegration of the latter.

In a significant development, Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi will participate in a video conference meeting of non-alignment movement (NAM) on COVID crisis.

In a significant development, Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi will participate in a video conference meeting of non-alignment movement (NAM) on COVID crisis. The meeting that will happen in at around 4.30 pm IST will see External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also present. This is the first time PM Modi is taking part in a NAM meeting since taking 2014 when he first became the Prime Minister. The last time any Indian PM participated at Tehran NAM meet was 2012 with the then PM Manmohan Singh was present. Both in 2016, 2018 summits of NAM, India was represented at Vice President level. The last NAM Summit happened in 2019 in Azerbaijan, before that it was 2016 in Venezuela. Azerbaijan is the president of the grouping from 2019-2022 and the meet is being organised under the leadership of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. The title of the summit is "We stand together against COVID-19". "We hope that the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group's Summit will make a significant contribution to the mobilization of NAM member states in the fight against coronavirus, strengthening of solidarity and multilateralism," Hikmat Hajiyev, Head of the Department for Foreign Policy Affairs of Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration said as quoted by Azerbaijan State News Agency or azertac. The meet on COVID comes even as other multilateral groupings like G20, BRICS and regional groupings like SAARC are having video conferences to come out with a coordinated approach on the pandemic. Non-Aligned Movement is an idea that emerged in 1950 and the initiative was led by the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Present of erstwhile Yugoslav Josip Broz Tito. NAM is the second-largest platform globally in terms of country membership after the UN. While it currently has 120 member states, 17 states which are observers in the last few years the grouping has lost the main rationale of the existence of remaining equidistant to 2 powers—US and the Soviet Union, after the disintegration of the latter.

In a first, PM Modi to participate in Non-Aligned Movement meet today

Vietnam has appreciated the scale of action taken in India on lockdown and social distancing norms, India's Envoy to Vietnam Pranay Verma said. Speaking exclusively to Our Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Hanoi, Pranay Verma said both the countries have had similar approaches in dealing with the crisis and currently both "have among the lowest per capita incidents of infections" in the world. He also talked about how the mission is reaching out to Indians stranded in the country, many of the tourist and short term visitors.

WION: How is the Indian mission reaching to stranded Indians in the country?

Pranay Verma: COVID pandemic has impacted lives and travel all over the world. Our Embassy and consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City have actively been reaching out to Indian nationals who are held up in Vietnam in the wake of travel restrictions. Most people who are stranded in Vietnam are tourists and business travellers or short term visitors who could not return to India before the travel restrictions came up. We have extensively used social media tools to inform all our Indian nationals in Vietnam including community members who live in Vietnam as well as those who are visiting Vietnam and are held up about our 24*7 emergency coordinates. We have launched an online drive to register Indian Nationals in Vietnam. We are encouraging them to contact us for any assistance from Visa extension, any logistics or subsistence needs that are required to make their extended stay in Vietnam manageable. At the same time, the Indian community in Vietnam and the community organisation like the Indian business chamber have been extremely helpful in playing a proactive role in establishing contacts through social media networks within the larger community to ensure that any person in need is quickly identified and reached out to. We are also in touch with the Vietnamese authorities to seek assistance in making sure those currently held back in Vietnam do not face any undue hardships. Thankfully, we have had no cases of Indian nationals in Vietnam catching the COVID virus infection. In short, other than return to India, which is not something which we can control from here, we stand ready to extend and are extending all possible assistance to make the stay of our stranded citizens in Vietnam as convenient as practically possible.

WION: How are India and Vietnam cooperating on COVID pandemic? Are we sending HCQ or importing kits or anything?

Pranay Verma: India and Vietnam have maintained close contact during the fight against COVID 19. PM Modi spoke telephonically to Vietnamese PM on April 13th and discussed the situation arising out of the pandemic and the steps our two countries are taking to address the challenge. We are also engaged via diplomatic channels, exchanging information on best practices. India traditionally plays the role of a major provider of pharmaceuticals to Vietnam and this engagement has continued during COVID 19 outbreak. If you look at the way both India and Vietnam have approached the COVID 19 pandemic, there are many similarities in terms of early and precise actions taken, including travel restrictions, containment strategies- quarantine and social distancing enforcements, contact tracing etc. while ensuring at the same time significant ramping up of medical preparedness. Largely as a result of these actions, one can say, both countries have been able to witness among the lowest per capita incidence of infections.&nbsp;

WION: Have we shared any Indian containment model or anything to learn from Vietnam's containment model?

Pranay Verma: As I said, we are closely engaged with Vietnam, by exchanging information and best practices and prevention and containment strategies. We are providing detailed briefings to the Vietnamese side on actions India is taking. The Vietnamese side has appreciated the enormity and scale of action taken in India to enforce social distancing through the lockdown. Similarly, we are also regularly updating authorities in India about developments in Vietnam, their best practices, achievements including indigenous development of testing kits, use of technology in contact tracing, enforcing social distancing and the overall success in managing the pandemic.

WION: How has the ground situation in Vietnam changed, how are Indian diplomats faring?

Pranay Verma: As of date, COVID situation in Vietnam appears to have been largely contained. Vietnam has reported 271 total positive cases since the first case was reported in late January. Vietnam has not seen any case of community transmission since around the middle of April. Thanks for inquiring about the well being of our diplomats and our officials. &nbsp;Throughout social distancing restrictions that were put in place in Vietnam since April 1, the embassy and our consulate general has remained open, though with reduced staff strength. We have been particularly alert that our consular services are not disrupted and that we are actively able to extend consular assistance to Indian nationals throughout this period. With social distancing norms now relaxed since April 22nd, life seems to be gradually coming back to normal, schools have reopened from this week and we are also back to work in full strength and all our diplomats, officials and local staffs are in good spirits.

Vietnam has appreciated the scale of action taken in India on lockdown and social distancing norms, India's Envoy to Vietnam Pranay Verma said. Speaking exclusively to Our Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Hanoi, Pranay Verma said both the countries have had similar approaches in dealing with the crisis and currently both "have among the lowest per capita incidents of infections" in the world.

Vietnam has appreciated the scale of action taken in India on lockdown and social distancing norms, India's Envoy to Vietnam Pranay Verma said. Speaking exclusively to Our Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Hanoi, Pranay Verma said both the countries have had similar approaches in dealing with the crisis and currently both "have among the lowest per capita incidents of infections" in the world. He also talked about how the mission is reaching out to Indians stranded in the country, many of the tourist and short term visitors. WION: How is the Indian mission reaching to stranded Indians in the country? Pranay Verma: COVID pandemic has impacted lives and travel all over the world. Our Embassy and consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City have actively been reaching out to Indian nationals who are held up in Vietnam in the wake of travel restrictions. Most people who are stranded in Vietnam are tourists and business travellers or short term visitors who could not return to India before the travel restrictions came up. We have extensively used social media tools to inform all our Indian nationals in Vietnam including community members who live in Vietnam as well as those who are visiting Vietnam and are held up about our 24*7 emergency coordinates. We have launched an online drive to register Indian Nationals in Vietnam. We are encouraging them to contact us for any assistance from Visa extension, any logistics or subsistence needs that are required to make their extended stay in Vietnam manageable. At the same time, the Indian community in Vietnam and the community organisation like the Indian business chamber have been extremely helpful in playing a proactive role in establishing contacts through social media networks within the larger community to ensure that any person in need is quickly identified and reached out to. We are also in touch with the Vietnamese authorities to seek assistance in making sure those currently held back in Vietnam do not face any undue hardships. Thankfully, we have had no cases of Indian nationals in Vietnam catching the COVID virus infection. In short, other than return to India, which is not something which we can control from here, we stand ready to extend and are extending all possible assistance to make the stay of our stranded citizens in Vietnam as convenient as practically possible. WION: How are India and Vietnam cooperating on COVID pandemic? Are we sending HCQ or importing kits or anything? Pranay Verma: India and Vietnam have maintained close contact during the fight against COVID 19. PM Modi spoke telephonically to Vietnamese PM on April 13th and discussed the situation arising out of the pandemic and the steps our two countries are taking to address the challenge. We are also engaged via diplomatic channels, exchanging information on best practices. India traditionally plays the role of a major provider of pharmaceuticals to Vietnam and this engagement has continued during COVID 19 outbreak. If you look at the way both India and Vietnam have approached the COVID 19 pandemic, there are many similarities in terms of early and precise actions taken, including travel restrictions, containment strategies- quarantine and social distancing enforcements, contact tracing etc. while ensuring at the same time significant ramping up of medical preparedness. Largely as a result of these actions, one can say, both countries have been able to witness among the lowest per capita incidence of infections. WION: Have we shared any Indian containment model or anything to learn from Vietnam's containment model? Pranay Verma: As I said, we are closely engaged with Vietnam, by exchanging information and best practices and prevention and containment strategies. We are providing detailed briefings to the Vietnamese side on actions India is taking. The Vietnamese side has appreciated the enormity and scale of action taken in India to enforce social distancing through the lockdown. Similarly, we are also regularly updating authorities in India about developments in Vietnam, their best practices, achievements including indigenous development of testing kits, use of technology in contact tracing, enforcing social distancing and the overall success in managing the pandemic. WION: How has the ground situation in Vietnam changed, how are Indian diplomats faring? Pranay Verma: As of date, COVID situation in Vietnam appears to have been largely contained. Vietnam has reported 271 total positive cases since the first case was reported in late January. Vietnam has not seen any case of community transmission since around the middle of April. Thanks for inquiring about the well being of our diplomats and our officials. Throughout social distancing restrictions that were put in place in Vietnam since April 1, the embassy and our consulate general has remained open, though with reduced staff strength. We have been particularly alert that our consular services are not disrupted and that we are actively able to extend consular assistance to Indian nationals throughout this period. With social distancing norms now relaxed since April 22nd, life seems to be gradually coming back to normal, schools have reopened from this week and we are also back to work in full strength and all our diplomats, officials and local staffs are in good spirits.

India's scale of action on COVID-19 containment appreciated by Hanoi: Indian envoy to Vietnam

India will be soon sending 2nd consignment of hydroxychloroquine to UAE. The second consignment will include 34 million tablets of HCQ.&nbsp;

Earlier India had sent 5.5 million tablets of the drug to the west Asian country with which New Delhi has close ties.

This comes even as New Delhi allowed 88 specialist, doctors and nurses to go back to UAE who were stranded in India due to lockdown.

Many Gulf countries have requested for essential medicines like hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol with New Delhi sending aid and supplies to the region on a commercial basis. India is sending hydroxychloroquine to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Egypt and Palestine.

As part of outreach to extended neighbourhood, India has sent its rapid response teams to Kuwait to help the country deal with the COVID-19 crisis.

PM and EAM have already been in touch with gulf counterparts in the past few weeks over COVID-19 crisis.&nbsp;

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had telephonic conversations with leaders of GCC countries --Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman-- as well as with leaders of Palestine, Jordan and Egypt.&nbsp;

EAM Jaishankar has had telephonic conversations with his counterparts of Saudi Arabia and Oman on April 23rd and with Foreign Ministers of Qatar, UAE and Palestine on 24 April. He had earlier spoken to Foreign Ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait and Algeria.

India will be soon sending 2nd consignment of hydroxychloroquine to UAE. The second consignment will include 34 million tablets of HCQ. Earlier India had sent 5.

India will be soon sending 2nd consignment of hydroxychloroquine to UAE. The second consignment will include 34 million tablets of HCQ. Earlier India had sent 5.5 million tablets of the drug to the west Asian country with which New Delhi has close ties. This comes even as New Delhi allowed 88 specialist, doctors and nurses to go back to UAE who were stranded in India due to lockdown. Many Gulf countries have requested for essential medicines like hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol with New Delhi sending aid and supplies to the region on a commercial basis. India is sending hydroxychloroquine to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Egypt and Palestine. As part of outreach to extended neighbourhood, India has sent its rapid response teams to Kuwait to help the country deal with the COVID-19 crisis. PM and EAM have already been in touch with gulf counterparts in the past few weeks over COVID-19 crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had telephonic conversations with leaders of GCC countries --Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman-- as well as with leaders of Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. EAM Jaishankar has had telephonic conversations with his counterparts of Saudi Arabia and Oman on April 23rd and with Foreign Ministers of Qatar, UAE and Palestine on 24 April. He had earlier spoken to Foreign Ministers of Bahrain, Kuwait and Algeria.

India to send second consignment of hydroxychloroquine to UAE

<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 12pt; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">India's lead counsel on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case Harish Salve has said New Delhi might have to go back to International Court of Justice (ICJ) to get directions for Pakistan to implement the judgement of the case.</div>

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<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">"We have reached the point that we may have to go to ICJ for consequential direction. Because Pakistan has not moved", Salve said.&nbsp;</div>

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<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">''I know&nbsp;the current situation," he said and added, India and Pakistan have had 7-8 exchanges and New Delhi was hoping that via backchannel ''we will persuade&nbsp;Pakistan to let him go. Even if it is a humanitarian ground, we want him back. Because&nbsp;it has become a big ego problem in Pakistan," he said.</div>

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<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">India has written 4-5 letters, he revealed&nbsp;but Pakistan keeps denying. Salve even met with EAM Jaishankar regarding the issue.</div>

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<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">Last year&nbsp;New Delhi got a major diplomatic victory at the ICJ with the world court asking&nbsp;Pakistan to "provide Indian consular&nbsp;officers access to him in accordance with Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations"</div>

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<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">Confident that "someday we will have him back in India",&nbsp;Salve said, "Keeping the case under the spotlight, under global community's watch. President of ICJ called it the important case at the UN. We have kept the glare on the case, in the hope Pakistan won't act worse," he further said.</div>

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Pakistan gave one consular access after the ICJ order but since that things have not moved publically. The meeting happened in the presence of Pakistani government officials and was recorded. A comprehensive report has been sent by the Indian mission in Islamabad to Ministry of External Affairs on the meeting last year.</div>

<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 12pt; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">&nbsp;</div>

<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 12pt; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">India has asked for FIR of charge-sheet and judgement of the military court from Pakistan on Jhadav case but Salve said," they refused to give that to us. They say they will not give us."</div>

<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 15px; line-height: inherit; font-family: &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI Web (West European)&quot;, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, -apple-system, system-ui, Roboto, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 31, 30); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">
<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 12pt; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&nbsp;</div>

<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 12pt; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 12pt; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">He also fondly remembered former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and how they maintained secrecy before India was to file the case at ICJ since Pakistan might have acted on Jadhav before the stay. He said, they wrote out the complaint while the computer was disconnected from the internet and give the print to Former EAM. After reading the complaint,&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">Swaraj&nbsp;used to "put it in the shredder".</div>
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India's lead counsel on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case Harish Salve has said New Delhi might have to go back to International Court of Justice (ICJ) to get directions for Pakistan to implement the judgement of the case.

India's lead counsel on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case Harish Salve has said New Delhi might have to go back to International Court of Justice (ICJ) to get directions for Pakistan to implement the judgement of the case. "We have reached the point that we may have to go to ICJ for consequential direction. Because Pakistan has not moved", Salve said. ''I know the current situation," he said and added, India and Pakistan have had 7-8 exchanges and New Delhi was hoping that via backchannel ''we will persuade Pakistan to let him go. Even if it is a humanitarian ground, we want him back. Because it has become a big ego problem in Pakistan," he said. India has written 4-5 letters, he revealed but Pakistan keeps denying. Salve even met with EAM Jaishankar regarding the issue. Last year New Delhi got a major diplomatic victory at the ICJ with the world court asking Pakistan to "provide Indian consular officers access to him in accordance with Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations" Confident that "someday we will have him back in India", Salve said, "Keeping the case under the spotlight, under global community's watch. President of ICJ called it the important case at the UN. We have kept the glare on the case, in the hope Pakistan won't act worse," he further said. Pakistan gave one consular access after the ICJ order but since that things have not moved publically. The meeting happened in the presence of Pakistani government officials and was recorded. A comprehensive report has been sent by the Indian mission in Islamabad to Ministry of External Affairs on the meeting last year. India has asked for FIR of charge-sheet and judgement of the military court from Pakistan on Jhadav case but Salve said," they refused to give that to us. They say they will not give us." He also fondly remembered former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and how they maintained secrecy before India was to file the case at ICJ since Pakistan might have acted on Jadhav before the stay. He said, they wrote out the complaint while the computer was disconnected from the internet and give the print to Former EAM. After reading the complaint, Swaraj used to "put it in the shredder".

Might have to go back to ICJ over Jadhav case, says Harish Salve

The Omani finance ministry order issued earlier this week to replace expats from govt job will not be immediately implemented and could take over a year for any concrete action on the ground. WION has learnt that Omani government companies will be submitting plans to replace ex-pats along with next year's budget proposals. &nbsp; 
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Omanization policy is more than 30 years old and aims to provide jobs to the local population. With a young population, the aim is to provide jobs to them through this policy.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/why-expat-indians-should-worry-about-omans-drive-to-fire-foreign-workers-295914">Why expat Indians should worry about Oman's drive to fire foreign workers</a>

As questions are being raised, how much it will impact Indians in the country a source said, "Most of the Indian workers are blue-collar workers, working in the construction sector, where this circular will not apply"

7,70,000 Indians in Oman, of which 6,55,000 workers, according to MEA. The Omani govt puts the number of Indian workers in Oman at 617,730 at the end of 2019.

While the decision comes during the COVID-19 crisis, it has no links with the pandemic. The West Asian country is the least affected country in GCC--Gulf Cooperation Council by COVID reporting 2,447 cases, with around 500 recoveries and 11 deaths.

Oman has been taking good care of the Indian community during the current COVID crisis. 
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Indian envoy to Oman Munu Mahawar speaking to WION last week said, &nbsp;"I would like to convey our deep gratitude to the govt of Oman for the measures they have taken to support the Indian community in Oman. Oman is providing free testing, and treatment and they have also provided food in the areas of strict lockdown."

Meanwhile, India has been facilitating the supply of food items and other commodities to Oman, via air and sea routes. Recently, New Delhi agreed to provide HCQ as requested by Govt of Oman. 
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The Omani finance ministry order issued earlier this week to replace expats from govt job will not be immediately implemented and could take over a year for any concrete action on the ground.

The Omani finance ministry order issued earlier this week to replace expats from govt job will not be immediately implemented and could take over a year for any concrete action on the ground. WION has learnt that Omani government companies will be submitting plans to replace ex-pats along with next year's budget proposals. Omanization policy is more than 30 years old and aims to provide jobs to the local population. With a young population, the aim is to provide jobs to them through this policy. Also read | Why expat Indians should worry about Oman's drive to fire foreign workers As questions are being raised, how much it will impact Indians in the country a source said, "Most of the Indian workers are blue-collar workers, working in the construction sector, where this circular will not apply" 7,70,000 Indians in Oman, of which 6,55,000 workers, according to MEA. The Omani govt puts the number of Indian workers in Oman at 617,730 at the end of 2019. While the decision comes during the COVID-19 crisis, it has no links with the pandemic. The West Asian country is the least affected country in GCC--Gulf Cooperation Council by COVID reporting 2,447 cases, with around 500 recoveries and 11 deaths. Oman has been taking good care of the Indian community during the current COVID crisis. Indian envoy to Oman Munu Mahawar speaking to WION last week said, "I would like to convey our deep gratitude to the govt of Oman for the measures they have taken to support the Indian community in Oman. Oman is providing free testing, and treatment and they have also provided food in the areas of strict lockdown." Meanwhile, India has been facilitating the supply of food items and other commodities to Oman, via air and sea routes. Recently, New Delhi agreed to provide HCQ as requested by Govt of Oman.

Oman policy to replace expats likely to implement next year, blue collar Indian workers not to be impacted

Indian mission in New Zealand is reaching out to stranded Indians in various ways and has sent a database of 1200 stranded Indians to the government in Delhi even as it waits for govt instruction for any call on evacuation. Speaking exclusively to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal from&nbsp;wellington, Indian envoy to New Zealand&nbsp;Muktesh K Pardeshi praised the country's "remarkable" efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and also talked about how Gurudwaras are reaching out to stranded Indians including feed some 50,000 people.

WION: How are&nbsp;India and New Zealand cooperating to deal with the COVID crisis?

Muktesh K Pardeshi: Both India and New Zealand are friendly countries and both have decided to collaborate&nbsp;on the crisis. Our both Foreign Ministers, EAM Jaishankar and New Zealand's FM both discussed the collaborative aspects. Being a group of like-minded countries, which also includes India and New Zealand, within that framework, both countries are deliberating on how to deal with a global pandemic.

WION: How is the Indian mission reaching out to Indians?

Muktesh K Pardeshi: We decided to reach out to the Indian diaspora in multiple manners via a social media platform, via calling them. We reached out to them via Indian associations. Indian associations are there all over new Zealand. We have roped in several NGOs who worked with several communities. So now we have a database&nbsp;of about 1200 people who have stranded&nbsp;here mainly tourist&nbsp;and some students.&nbsp;

WION: And how are Gurudwaras reaching out? We have seen Gurudwaras helping out to stranded Indians.

Muktesh K Pardeshi: When the lockdown started, in the beginning, the Gurudwaras were not open but now they are functional they can reach out to any stranded Indian. One Gurudwara in Auckland&nbsp;has served food to more than 50,000 people in last so many days. They have done a commendable&nbsp;job. What we have done at the high commission is that we have brought in a number of charity organisation,&nbsp;Indian associations in Auckland, wellington, Christchurch they have been able to reach out to stranded students, those who are in work visa. They were facing difficulties, these are the people who were vulnerable.&nbsp;

WION:&nbsp;New Zealand model of COVID containment being lauded across the world..more you can tell

Muktesh K Pardeshi: New Zealand has done remarkably well. PM of New Zealand has been very clear and consistent&nbsp;in messaging from day one. How they have communicated&nbsp;to the people, the messaging. Of course, the population density is very low here, so people are able to self isolate without much difficulty,&nbsp;not possible in densely populated areas. Certain advantages in favour of new Zealand.

WION: Any model we have talked about with New Zealand..

Muktesh K Pardeshi: New Zealand started lockdown, a little bit early that what we did in India. What they did, they devised&nbsp;health alert system--1,2,3,4 with 4 begin the highest one. Right now we are at the third&nbsp;level. They were in level 2 and jumped to 4 for a month, now they have gone down to level 3. The cabinet is going to meet, and they may go down to level 2. In terms of national lockdown, their model was available&nbsp;when we started our lockdown.

WION: Are we planning to evacuate&nbsp;Indians stranded in the country?

Muktesh K Pardeshi: What we have done, we have created a database, of those who would like to go back. We have a list of 1200 people, they are basically students and tourist on family visits. Such students would also like to go back, but not many students have the desire to go back. So basically tourist on family visits. We have shared this data based with the govt and looking forward to any instructions emanating&nbsp;from govt of India. These people here are very anxious and they have been here for 2 months and New Zealand is an expensive country.&nbsp;So naturally, they are upset and they would like to go back.&nbsp;

WION: How are Indian diplomats doing, how has the situation been for you.&nbsp;

Muktesh K Pardeshi:&nbsp;I would say during the last few years, govt has been very consistent in its approach towards the diaspora. So in the last 5-6 years, we have been groomed in a manner to deal with these kinds of situation. It is not a very difficult situation, and here in New Zealand all diplomatic missions have been exempted during the lockdown, so we can go to offices for a certain number of hours. Of course, services are skeletal because they have to maintain lockdown norms but still we are able to come to the high commission and provide services which are required. So we are working, and it is not a normal situation. For example, we are giving food packets to our citizens since its lockdown we can have a certain number of people gathering and we must comply with the norms.

Indian mission in New Zealand is reaching out to stranded Indians in various ways and has sent a database of 1200 stranded Indians to the government in Delhi even as it waits for govt instruction for any call on evacuation.

Indian mission in New Zealand is reaching out to stranded Indians in various ways and has sent a database of 1200 stranded Indians to the government in Delhi even as it waits for govt instruction for any call on evacuation. Speaking exclusively to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal from wellington, Indian envoy to New Zealand Muktesh K Pardeshi praised the country's "remarkable" efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and also talked about how Gurudwaras are reaching out to stranded Indians including feed some 50,000 people. WION: How are India and New Zealand cooperating to deal with the COVID crisis? Muktesh K Pardeshi: Both India and New Zealand are friendly countries and both have decided to collaborate on the crisis. Our both Foreign Ministers, EAM Jaishankar and New Zealand's FM both discussed the collaborative aspects. Being a group of like-minded countries, which also includes India and New Zealand, within that framework, both countries are deliberating on how to deal with a global pandemic. WION: How is the Indian mission reaching out to Indians? Muktesh K Pardeshi: We decided to reach out to the Indian diaspora in multiple manners via a social media platform, via calling them. We reached out to them via Indian associations. Indian associations are there all over new Zealand. We have roped in several NGOs who worked with several communities. So now we have a database of about 1200 people who have stranded here mainly tourist and some students. WION: And how are Gurudwaras reaching out? We have seen Gurudwaras helping out to stranded Indians. Muktesh K Pardeshi: When the lockdown started, in the beginning, the Gurudwaras were not open but now they are functional they can reach out to any stranded Indian. One Gurudwara in Auckland has served food to more than 50,000 people in last so many days. They have done a commendable job. What we have done at the high commission is that we have brought in a number of charity organisation, Indian associations in Auckland, wellington, Christchurch they have been able to reach out to stranded students, those who are in work visa. They were facing difficulties, these are the people who were vulnerable. WION: New Zealand model of COVID containment being lauded across the world..more you can tell Muktesh K Pardeshi: New Zealand has done remarkably well. PM of New Zealand has been very clear and consistent in messaging from day one. How they have communicated to the people, the messaging. Of course, the population density is very low here, so people are able to self isolate without much difficulty, not possible in densely populated areas. Certain advantages in favour of new Zealand. WION: Any model we have talked about with New Zealand.. Muktesh K Pardeshi: New Zealand started lockdown, a little bit early that what we did in India. What they did, they devised health alert system--1,2,3,4 with 4 begin the highest one. Right now we are at the third level. They were in level 2 and jumped to 4 for a month, now they have gone down to level 3. The cabinet is going to meet, and they may go down to level 2. In terms of national lockdown, their model was available when we started our lockdown. WION: Are we planning to evacuate Indians stranded in the country? Muktesh K Pardeshi: What we have done, we have created a database, of those who would like to go back. We have a list of 1200 people, they are basically students and tourist on family visits. Such students would also like to go back, but not many students have the desire to go back. So basically tourist on family visits. We have shared this data based with the govt and looking forward to any instructions emanating from govt of India. These people here are very anxious and they have been here for 2 months and New Zealand is an expensive country. So naturally, they are upset and they would like to go back. WION: How are Indian diplomats doing, how has the situation been for you. Muktesh K Pardeshi: I would say during the last few years, govt has been very consistent in its approach towards the diaspora. So in the last 5-6 years, we have been groomed in a manner to deal with these kinds of situation. It is not a very difficult situation, and here in New Zealand all diplomatic missions have been exempted during the lockdown, so we can go to offices for a certain number of hours. Of course, services are skeletal because they have to maintain lockdown norms but still we are able to come to the high commission and provide services which are required. So we are working, and it is not a normal situation. For example, we are giving food packets to our citizens since its lockdown we can have a certain number of people gathering and we must comply with the norms.

Database of 1,200 stranded Indians sent to govt, says Indian envoy to New Zealand Pardeshi

India's envoy to Tanzania Sanjiv Kohli has said Indian community members in the country are contributing to the country's national efforts to fight the COVID pandemic.

India's envoy to Tanzania Sanjiv Kohli has said Indian community members in the country are contributing to the country's national efforts to fight the COVID pandemic. Speaking exclusively to WION's diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, Ambassador Kohli talked about how the mission is reaching out stranded Indians in the country. WION: How are India and Tanzania cooperating on the COVID crisis? Sanjiv Kohli: As for our cooperation with Tanzania in COVID 19 related matters we have been regularly sharing some of our learnings with them. You are also aware of steps taken by the Government of India to ensure execution of orders placed by Tanzanian companies for import of hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol from India. Indian companies present here as well as companies owned by Indian community members have contributed towards Tanzania's efforts to fight this pandemic. WION: How are you reaching out to Indians stranded in the country? Sanjiv Kohli: There are about 12000 Indian nationals here apart from about 40000 people of Indian origin. As in other parts of the world, there are some of our nationals who were on short term visits and have got stuck. We have facilitated the extension of their visas. There are others who want to travel to India for a variety of reasons such as to him with their families in India or because of possible loss of jobs etc. We are issuing regular advisories and updating our database of those who are stranded as well as of those who are here on regular work permits. Regular contacts are also being maintained with community leaders and associations. As for situation here there has been a sudden spurt in the number of cases in the last few days. Members of the Mission and their families are of course taking all possible precautions.

Indian community contributing to Tanzania's ​​​​​​​efforts to fight COVID-19 pandemic, says India's envoy to Tanzania

Estonia, the country which will chair the United Nations Security Council&nbsp;(UNSC) for the month of May, has termed the body's inability to come out with COVID-19 resolution as a "shame."

At the virtual press conference by Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations Ambassador Sven Jürgenson said, "it is really a shame we have not been able to fulfill&nbsp;our responsibility. There are stumbling blocks, the situation is blocked at the moment, but the talks are continuing, continuing at a high level. And I hope we come out of the gridlock."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/exclusive-lockdown-extension-will-lead-to-a-faster-recovery-says-top-economist-arvind-panagariya-296260">EXCLUSIVE: Lockdown extension will lead to a faster recovery, says top economist Arvind Panagariya</a>

Estonia has been pushing for COVID-19 meeting and a press statement since March but could not get support because few permanent members of UNSC, notably China had some issues regarding it. The matter finally came up on April 9 under the presidency of the Dominican Republic and now a Franco-Tunisian draft resolution is being discussed.

"It is shame that we have not able to take leadership. There are certain reasons, Estonia has been one of the most active in pushing, pushing very very strongly for more than a month to be there and for the security council to stand were it should stand", the envoy said.

Highlighting the difference, Sven Jürgenson said, "There is no political agreement especially among 2 members of the council and we are expecting to see development and everyone wants council to move forward".

The China-US tiff continues to block the move at UNSC and with Washington and Bejing publicly involved in a war of words, no one knows, when any consensus emerges.&nbsp;

Jürgenson explained, "Still no consensus...(due to) some security council member state...work continues and hope differences will be solved. I do feel as a member of the council UNSC should be active on the matter"

Asked about another initiative on COVID-19, he said, "it would be stuck exactly with the same problem"

United Nations, especially the core body--United Nations Security Council is found missing during the COVID-19 crisis. It was G20 that took the responsibility for a global strategy to deal with the crisis and leaders of the group&nbsp;in March did a video conference to chalk out an action plan to deal with the challenge.&nbsp;

The idea of the meet was discussed by Indian PM Narendra Modi with his G20 counterparts including the chair of G20 Saudi Arabia. PM Modi had in the month of March taken the global lead in the call for a video conference of SAARC countries for a common approach to deal with the crisis.

Estonia, the country which will chair the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the month of May, has termed the body's inability to come out with COVID-19 resolution as a "shame.

Estonia, the country which will chair the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the month of May, has termed the body's inability to come out with COVID-19 resolution as a "shame." At the virtual press conference by Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations Ambassador Sven Jürgenson said, "it is really a shame we have not been able to fulfill our responsibility. There are stumbling blocks, the situation is blocked at the moment, but the talks are continuing, continuing at a high level. And I hope we come out of the gridlock." Also read | EXCLUSIVE: Lockdown extension will lead to a faster recovery, says top economist Arvind Panagariya Estonia has been pushing for COVID-19 meeting and a press statement since March but could not get support because few permanent members of UNSC, notably China had some issues regarding it. The matter finally came up on April 9 under the presidency of the Dominican Republic and now a Franco-Tunisian draft resolution is being discussed. "It is shame that we have not able to take leadership. There are certain reasons, Estonia has been one of the most active in pushing, pushing very very strongly for more than a month to be there and for the security council to stand were it should stand", the envoy said. Highlighting the difference, Sven Jürgenson said, "There is no political agreement especially among 2 members of the council and we are expecting to see development and everyone wants council to move forward". The China-US tiff continues to block the move at UNSC and with Washington and Bejing publicly involved in a war of words, no one knows, when any consensus emerges. Jürgenson explained, "Still no consensus...(due to) some security council member state...work continues and hope differences will be solved. I do feel as a member of the council UNSC should be active on the matter" Asked about another initiative on COVID-19, he said, "it would be stuck exactly with the same problem" United Nations, especially the core body--United Nations Security Council is found missing during the COVID-19 crisis. It was G20 that took the responsibility for a global strategy to deal with the crisis and leaders of the group in March did a video conference to chalk out an action plan to deal with the challenge. The idea of the meet was discussed by Indian PM Narendra Modi with his G20 counterparts including the chair of G20 Saudi Arabia. PM Modi had in the month of March taken the global lead in the call for a video conference of SAARC countries for a common approach to deal with the crisis.

New UNSC Prez says council's inability to come out with coronavirus resolution a 'shame'

Gurudwaras and temples in Kenya have come together to reach out to the people in Kenya over COVID-19 crisis, with many opening doors and providing food. Speaking exclusively to our Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Nairobi, Indian envoy to Kenya Rahul Chhabra said, "Kenyan govt appreciative the Indian community's support during COVID-19 crisis".

Gurudwaras and temples in Kenya have come together to reach out to the people in Kenya over COVID-19 crisis, with many opening doors and providing food. Speaking exclusively to our Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Nairobi, Indian envoy to Kenya Rahul Chhabra said, "Kenyan govt appreciative the Indian community's support during COVID-19 crisis". He also said that Kenya is following on the footsteps of India on handling the COVID-19 situation and taking inspiration as well on imposing the lockdown. Meanwhile, New Delhi will be soon training many Africans including Kenyan healthcare workers to deal with COVID-19 crisis under thee ITEC courses. WION: How are India and Kenya cooperating with each other on Covid crisis? Rahul Chhabra: External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar spoke to the Foreign Minister of Kenya last week and during the course of the call, they discussed how India is showing solidarity to African countries and find a way on working forward. In that conversation, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary requested Dr Jaishankar for the relaxation of the export ban and for HCQ and that was granted on the spot by Dr Jaishankar and they were very much appreciative of the fact. In addition, we are also running an e-ITEC course. We managed to get five Kenyans to register for it and they are specially meant for health care professionals. This training on COVID-19 and it is extremely timely. This is the first of the course and we are hoping to have many more courses coming up and many more Kenyans participating in it. We had over 400 Kenyans go for ITEC courses just last year. So ITEC is a very popular programme. So we are helping in collaborating, in terms of the evacuation of Kenyan nationals who are currently in India. Many of them go there for treatments of all kinds, cancer, operations, knee.. because health care here is little weak and these Kenyans have received the treatment for other diseases and now waiting to come back. So Kenyan govt has requested us and we have facilitated not only the approval of flights to take off from India and bring back here but also in terms of road transport because these people are all over, in Chennai, Hyderabad and flight will take off only in Mumbai and Delhi. We need to get them all together, helping them get the permission to do road transport and in medium-term we looking to collaborate on -ArogyaBharti (Tele-medicine) which is a collaboration of hospitals through the internet. WION: This ITEC course for other African countries too? Rahul Chhabra: It is not only for Africa, but it is also for SAARC countries. It is for al our partner countries. ITEC has over 100 partner countries. They are tailormade and different languages. It is very interesting and fascinating. It is very timely and I am sure Kenyan govt will benefit from it and so will the rest of the people. WION: How many Indians stranded in the country due to COVID? Rahul Chhabra: 100 Indians stranded in Nairobi, over 150 in Mombasa which is a port town in Kenya, 5 in Somalia, so there are these 255-260 Indians who are actually stranded, meaning they came here for tourism, they came here for business or meet friends or relatives and now they can't go back. For them what we are doing is that we have maintained a list, we are regularly in contact with them, talking to them, advising them to be calm. Bear with all of us, bear with the country, bear with the world to beat this pandemic. we are also helping them fill up the visa form online from the Kenyan govt side. 20,000 Indian passport holders, 60,000 OCI cardholder in Kenya. For them, I have been doing a video conference with heads of the community associations. I have done calls over 25 heads came online and we discussed best practises, what they doing, shared experiences. There are more than 20 Gurudwaras, the one Gurudwara in Nairobi is serving hot meals to 400 people daily and dry rations to 150 people daily. The Hindu community has been giving 20,000 litres of disinfectant and hand sanitisers, 50,000 litres to govt and police personnel and 2 cubicles for testing COVID. The Hindu community's chapter in Nakuru fed 4000 families last month. The Lohana samaj is having a helpline for seniors so that they don't have to go out and expose themselves. This helpline is managed by teenagers and youth, so it is inculcating a sense of service. If you get a call on this helpline, you go out and shop and supply these elderly people. It is a very good way of fo training and upbringing. I want the other communities to hear what communities are doing so that each of them can share the practices. On OCI cardholders, a number of prominent Indians here, like Mr Narendra Raval, he is a very big businessman here and he has donated a lot of money and he has now on President Kenyatta's emergency response fund. More like Bimal Shah, Manu Chandaria big business here who are donating generously to President Kenyatta's fund. When I briefed Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Raychelle Omamo, she is very happy with Indian community's support. In two small instances, there was an Indian solider in Indian army deployed in South Sudan. His flight was transiting via Nairobi, from here he left for Juba and just as he was about to land, South Sudan closed airspace and said no foreigner allowed. He was put on the flight back and he landed in Nairobi, which also closed itself and India also closed itself. The Indian soldier was in no man's land and we stepped in and helped him and he is still here and we look after him. Another Indian was stuck in Malawai. We got clearance for his plane, as a med evacuation, come to Nairobi and is currently in the city getting himself treated. He is quite happy and well looked after. WION: We are sending medicines to these countries also? Rahul Chhabra: Last week, over one and half-million dollars worth of HIV medicine arrived. Kenyan govt is very happy about it. This was a commitment made by PM Modi when he visited Kenya, few years back. The medicines have been coming in tranches but very welcome time. Kenya is purchasing 379 thousand tablets of HCQ from us and we have allowed. Other APIs they asking for permission, so we are going to process that and they will be able to access that. It is just not medicines, we just focus on the medicine part of it. Kenyan govt has requested for 1000 tonnes of chlorine, calcium hypochlorite which is a water disinfectant. We try best to supply them with that, we will probably give them as a grant. Locust issue is going on at the moment here for the last several weeks and FAOs consignment was coming here from India and India declared a lockdown. All the trucks were held up, again the embassy had to step in and get the permission and passes, and all the pesticides have arrived here to deal with the locust menace. Lastly, EXIM bank gave them a loan, year and a half back to modernise its textile factory which is the largest factory in East Africa at $30 million. Today, that factory to producing thousands and thousands of face mask. WION: Are we preparing a quarantine facility for stranded Indians? Rahul Chhabra: No need to do that, since no one requiring quarantine facility. No Indian has been infected but in anticipation of that Indian community members have been encouraged and they have done that, they have gone and spoken to hospitals and hotels to negotiate the rates in case, anyone requires to stay under quarantine. The community has also raised funds and kept money aside if somebody needs money and is admitted to these facilities, this money will be used to pay for the expense. WION: How has been the situation on the ground and how are diplomats coping up with it? Rahul Chhabra: The first case was identified in Kenya on March 6. Now, two months later we are at 400 cases and15 deaths. While testing is limited, they are ramping up testing, promising to really ramp it up a lot. In the meantime, authorities have taken a lot of measures. For example, 7 pm onwards there is a night curfew and even diplomats can not go out. Everyone is subject to night curfew till 5 am in the morning. Bars, mall are shut at 7 am and no congregations are allowed, including religious ones are banned. Schools, colleges are also suspended. Use of mask is also compulsory, they have taken a lot of measures. We hope they will come out of it and they had the experience of other countries going forward. We are taking full abundant precautions, maintaining social distance while still trying to keep up with our duties. We are trying our best to be ahead of the curve, monitor the evolving situation very closely and what all we can do to counter it. Like for example, visa wing is close so we using the time to renovate that wing to make it more professional and more user friendly. All the Indian diplomats and spouses are feeling safe and comfortable, in fact, my wife has regular skype calls with the wives of all the Indian diplomats and officers here. So every 2-3 days they catch up, chat for an hour. I have skype calls with them once in a while and we exchange that to keep our morale up. It is a tough situation and we try to keep up with that. WION: Have we shared any model of containment with them? Rahul Chhabra: The Kenyans are actively looking at all models across. They were looking at our lookdown, they said if India which is a country of 1.3 billion can have a full lockdown, why can we have a partial curfew. This is also a third world developing country, so they looked at that sort of intermediate step and they are quite strictly enforcing it. And also that eITEC COVID training, I am sure they going to pick up on how to handle the situation. They very closely monitor the situation in India and try and adapt it to own situation.

New Delhi to train Kenyan healthcare workers amid COVID-19 crisis

The ministry of external affairs in a demarch has lodged a strong protest with the Pakistani High Commission over the killing of an Indian citizen in a ceasefire violation by Islamabad.

The unprovoked ceasefire violation by Pakistan forces on April 30 took place in Krishna Ghati sector of Jammu &amp; Kashmir. 16-year-old Indian civilian Gul Faraz died in the CFV while another civilian aged 36 Zafar Iqbal were&nbsp;injured.

Pakistan forces have carried out more than 1518 unprovoked ceasefire violations&nbsp;so far this year. While asking the country to adhere to the 2003 ceasefire understanding, New Delhi instructed Pakistan to desist from such acts.

The issue of unprovoked ceasefire violation has been also raised during the weekly Director Generals Military Operations talks.

On March 13 also India had demarched Pakistan over the killing of three&nbsp;of its civilians in ceasefire violations. Pakistan during a&nbsp;ceasefire violation on April 12 in Chowkibal and Kupwara in&nbsp;Jammu and Kashmir killed three&nbsp;Indian civilians including women and a minor child.

Pakistan in ceasefire violation had earlier killed 34-year-old Shamima Begum, 17-year old Javid Ahmad Khan of Reddi Chowkibal and 8-year old Zeeshan Bashir, resident of Tumna.

The ministry of external affairs in a demarch has lodged a strong protest with the Pakistani High Commission over the killing of an Indian citizen in a ceasefire violation by Islamabad.

The ministry of external affairs in a demarch has lodged a strong protest with the Pakistani High Commission over the killing of an Indian citizen in a ceasefire violation by Islamabad. The unprovoked ceasefire violation by Pakistan forces on April 30 took place in Krishna Ghati sector of Jammu & Kashmir. 16-year-old Indian civilian Gul Faraz died in the CFV while another civilian aged 36 Zafar Iqbal were injured. Pakistan forces have carried out more than 1518 unprovoked ceasefire violations so far this year. While asking the country to adhere to the 2003 ceasefire understanding, New Delhi instructed Pakistan to desist from such acts. The issue of unprovoked ceasefire violation has been also raised during the weekly Director Generals Military Operations talks. On March 13 also India had demarched Pakistan over the killing of three of its civilians in ceasefire violations. Pakistan during a ceasefire violation on April 12 in Chowkibal and Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir killed three Indian civilians including women and a minor child. Pakistan in ceasefire violation had earlier killed 34-year-old Shamima Begum, 17-year old Javid Ahmad Khan of Reddi Chowkibal and 8-year old Zeeshan Bashir, resident of Tumna.

India lodges protest with Pakistan after civilian killed in ceasefire violation in J&K

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Zee News Rajasthan

Editor

Sidhant Sibal

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