Operation Sindhu: Evacuation flight from Iran arrives with 310 Indian nationals
New Delhi, June 21 (UNI) Another evacuation flight from Iran arrived in New Delhi this evening, with 310 Indian nationals, taking the number of Indians evacuated to 827 so far, under Operation Sindhu. Another flight is expected to arrive later tonight.
The MEA spokesperson said in a post on X:
'#OperationSindhu
'Another evacuation flight from Mashhad landed in New Delhi at 1630 hrs on 21 June with 310 Indian nationals from Iran.
'With this, a total of 827 Indians have been evacuated.'
Another flight is expected to arrive at 11.30 pm tonight.
India is also to evacuate Nepali and Sri Lankan nationals from Iran, following the Nepalese and Sri Lankan governments approaching India for help.
The Indian Embassy in Tehran has issued a notice inviting Nepalis and Sri Lankan nationals in Iran to establish contact.
'On request of the governments of Nepal and Sri Lanka, the Indian Embassy's evacuation efforts in Iran will also cover citizens of Nepal and Sri Lanka,' the Embassy of India in Iran said in a post on X on Saturday. 'The citizens of Nepal and Sri Lanka may urgently reach out to the embassy, either on the Telegram channel or over the emergency contact numbers. +989010144557; +989128109115; +989128109109.'
UNI RN
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
FATF links Pak missile tech to dual-use cargo seized by India in 2020
A dual-use equipment seized by India from a Pakistan-bound merchant vessel in 2020 is linked to Islamabad's National Development Complex that is involved in the country's missile development programme, a new report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has said. India's seizure of the dual-use equipment used in developing missiles found mention in the report by the multilateral financial watchdog that highlighted vulnerabilities in the global financial system. The report listed the case under a section on the misuse of the maritime and shipping sectors including to transport a range of commodities, including dual-use equipment. "In 2020, Indian custom authorities seized an Asian-flagged ship bound for Pakistan. During an investigation, Indian authorities confirmed that documents mis-declared the shipment's dual-use items," the FATF report said. "Indian investigators certified the items for shipment to be 'Autoclaves', which are used for sensitive high energy materials and for insulation and chemical coating of missile motors," the report said. It said these sensitive items are included in dual-use export control lists of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The bill of lading of the seized cargo provided evidence of the "link between the importer and the National Development Complex, which is involved in the development of long-range ballistic missiles," it said. The export of equipment such as the autoclaves without formal approval from various authorities is a violation of existing law, the FATF said. Pakistan's National Development Complex (NDC) has played a crucial role in the development of Pakistan's missile programme. India had seized the dual-use equipment from merchant vessel Da Cui Yun at Kandla port in Gujarat on February 3, 2020. The Indian customs authorities had stopped the vessel for wrongly declaring an autoclave, which can be used in construction of missiles, as an "industrial dryer". The report said that significant vulnerabilities remain across the global financial system in countering the financing of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). "Despite the grave threat posed by proliferation financing (PF), only 16 per cent of countries assessed by the FATF and its global network have demonstrated high or substantial effectiveness" in a process that evaluates the implementation of targeted financial sanctions under the United Nations Security Council resolutions on proliferation. The report said that unless the public and private sectors urgently bolster technical compliance and effectiveness, those seeking to finance WMD proliferation will continue to exploit weaknesses in existing controls. The report provided a detailed analysis of the evolving methods and techniques used to evade PF-related sanctions. "Illicit actors are employing increasingly sophisticated methods to evade sanctions and circumvent export controls," it said.
The Wire
an hour ago
- The Wire
Amit Shah's Attack on English Betrays India's Pluralist Foundations
Union home minister Amit Shah's outrageous statement that 'In our lifetime, we will see a society in which those speaking English will feel ashamed…' is not only an affront to the legacy of freedom struggle stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Maulana Azad, but also a blatant violation of the Constitution, which explicitly provides for the use of both Indian languages and English in several of its articles. That Shah made this remark on the 75th anniversary of the Constitution of India adds an element of contempt to the occasion. By making such a remark, which borders on hate speech, Shah undermined the very idea of India, an idea rooted in linguistic diversity and cultural plurality. In his statement, he claimed that the languages of our country are ornaments of our culture, asserting that without them we could not call ourselves Bharatiya. 'Our country, its history, its culture, our Dharma — if these have to be understood, it cannot be done in foreign languages,' he declared. This assertion disregards the historical reality that several foreign languages, including English, have helped transmit the treasures of Indian culture to the wider world. Gandhi and the English Gita Mahatma Gandhi never read the Bhagavad Gita in its original Sanskrit. His first encounter with it came in London, where he read The Song Celestial, the English translation by Edwin Arnold. So profound was its spiritual impact on him that it played a transformative role in shaping his life and thought – thoughts that later became central to the freedom movement. The Gita's message was not devalued simply because it was rendered in English. Shah's logic, which disparages English speakers, is thus an insult to Gandhi's legacy. While Gandhi strongly championed Indian languages and expressed himself with excellence in his native Gujarati, he was also one of the most articulate Indian writers and speakers in English. Writing in Young India on 26 January 1921, Gandhi stated: 'I would have our young men and women with literary tastes to learn as much of English or other world languages as they like and then expect them to give the benefits of their learning to India and to the world, like a Bose, a Ray or a Tagore.' He added forcefully: 'But I would not have a single Indian to forget, neglect or be ashamed of his mother tongue or to feel that he or she cannot think or express the best thoughts in his or her own vernacular.' Gandhi's views were rooted not in narrow nationalism or linguistic chauvinism but in a universal, inclusive ethos that rejected hatred. Tagore and English Rabindranath Tagore never formally studied English, yet he wrote essays in the language with as much brilliance as he did poems, plays and other works in Bengali. The Sahitya Akademi's publication English Writings of Tagore captures the richness and exuberance of his literary expression in English. Globally, Tagore is celebrated for his creative excellence in Bengali, and his compositions continue to be recited across linguistic and cultural platforms in India and abroad. Maulana Azad and English Maulana Azad too had no formal education in English, yet he fully grasped its significance in the modern world. He wrote: 'Howsoever wrongly the English language made its way into our life, the fact remains that it has influenced our mental and educational outlook for the past one hundred and fifty years.' While he acknowledged the harm English had caused in some respects, he also highlighted its contributions: 'The greatest advantage that we gained from the adoption of English was that many of the obstacles were automatically removed from our newly born national life. It has led to the unification of the whole of the country. All the different parts of the country were brought together in spite of distances and different languages. In this respect, it can be said that English has played the same part in cementing and uniting India as did Persian in Moghul times.' At the same time, he warned that English could not remain dominant forever and that Indian languages must be given their rightful place. 'We have to decide after mature deliberation how to bring about this change,' he said. A constitutional violation Amit Shah's remarks lack such 'mature deliberation' and directly contravene the constitution. Article 120 allows members of parliament to speak in Hindi, English or their mother tongue. In state legislatures too, members are permitted to speak in English in addition to the language of the state. Article 348 stipulates that English can be used in the Supreme Court and high courts, and in the authoritative texts of laws, bills and acts. The constitution also mandates the translation of every amendment, originally drafted in English, into Hindi. During the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, when the opposition raised concerns about saving the Constitution, Shah professed a newfound reverence for secularism and even declared that the word would not be removed from the Preamble. Now that he has poured scorn on English, will he have the courage to propose that all references to the English language be struck from the Constitution? Shah must move beyond his party's outdated and narrow ideology of 'one nation, one culture.' He must embrace the pluralism that defines India, an essential part of which is linguistic diversity. That diversity includes Indian languages, English and other foreign tongues, all of which have contributed to the richness of our civilisational experience. S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
'Hybrid model': How Pakistan minister Khawaja Asif described military's interference
Pakistan's defence minister, Khawaja Asif, on Saturday, attempted to gloss over the country's army's influence on governance, claiming the nation is being governed under what he called a 'hybrid model'. This is the second time this week that Asif, a prominent member of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's cabinet, admitted to the so-called hybrid model. Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif (C) arrives at the Parliament House in Islamabad.(AFP file photo) Since Pakistan's inception, the army has dominated the politics, foreign policy, and economics of Pakistan, with many generals becoming the head of state. Asif, known for his embarrassing admission of Pakistan's involvement in fostering terrorism at the behest of Western powers, made the remark during an interview with Arab News aired on Friday evening. His comments are being considered as an admission that the Sharifs' Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has the blessings of the powerful military establishment in Pakistan. Speaking about the military's involvement in power, he said: 'This is a hybrid model. It's not an ideal democratic government. So, this hybrid arrangement, I think it is doing wonders. This system is a practical necessity until Pakistan is out of the woods as far as economic and governance problems are concerned.' Also read: In Parliament, Khawaja Asif says 'madarsa students are Pakistan's second line of defence': Watch The minister claimed that 'the only realistic option' for the PML-N and the Sharifs is 'to compromise with the military.' The Pakistani government has been erroneously praising the military of late, claiming it had an upper hand in the recent conflict with India. The claims were made even as the Indian military crippled Pakistan's strategic air bases with precision strikes. After losing face in the conflict, Pakistani army chief Asim Munir was promoted to the post of the field marshal of Pakistan. On Thursday, a day after Asim Munir met US President Donald Trump at the White House, Asif described the meeting as "the most important turning point in the 78-year history of relations." 'Not mixed, fixed government' 'Khawaja Asif and others now have to seek some legitimacy to praise the merits of the hybrid model, which doesn't mean a mixed but a fixed government to serve subsidiary interests,' said senior analyst Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais. He said the current setup is, in fact, the third 'hybrid regime' since the ouster of Imran Khan in 2022. 'Today the difference is that while Gen Ziaul Haq and Gen Pervez Musharraf created political fronts by cannibalising major parties, this time around the two major parties – PMLN and PPP – have willingly served as political facade,' he said, referring to the past two army generals who later became presidents. Senior journalist Matiullah Jan described his remark as a "fall from grace" "What a fall from grace for a politician. This defence minister takes oath to defend the constitution, which makes no mention of the so-called hybrid form of government," he wrote on X. With inputs from PTI
