How Indians are being evacuated from Iran
Monday marked the launch of yet another evacuation of Indian nationals by the government from a war-hit zone — this time from Tehran, the capital of Iran. Amid Israel’s threat to bomb Tehran, Indian students have, for now, been shifted to Qom, south-west of the capital, using transport facilities arranged by the Indian Embassy in Tehran.
Some Indians have crossed over to Armenia through the land border with Iran. The two countries share a 44-km border, with a land crossing at the Agarak-Norduz customs check-point.
An option for evacuating Indians in Bandar Abbas, a sea port in the Persian Gulf, is to transport them by ship to UAE, some 140 km away. That is being worked out. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has already spoken to his UAE counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed and discussed the evolving situation in West Asia.
Indian presence
About 10,000 Indians live in Iran currently. Many of them are traders, academics, students, Shia theological scholars or other professionals. Among the students, several are from Jammu and Kashmir. Theological scholars stay in Iran for seven to 10 years and most of them are from the Shia-dominated Kargil-Drass region of Ladakh.
The process of evacuating Indian nationals or people of Indian origin from Iran would need some deft management as it’s an active war zone. The Iran-Israel conflict is hot, unpredictable and has both sides hitting non-military areas.
During Operation Ganga in 2022, Indian students in Ukraine were evacuated using a dedicated route. Both Ukraine and Russia were on board on deciding the evacuation plan as students were ferried to Poland, Hungary and Romania.
Assistance by Iran
To its north-west, Iran shares borders with Iraq, Turkiye, Armenia and Azerbaijan. To Iran’s east, its neighbours are Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
To India’s request that it needed to evacuate its nationals, Iran responded on Monday that though the airspace is closed, all land borders are open for the safe evacuation.
The Foreign Ministry of Iran gave the green light to India’s diplomatic mission and extended help for the safe evacuation of diplomats and civilians.
Tehran has asked India to give the names, passport numbers and vehicle specifications of those crossing the borders to its General Protocol Department. It also asked for the time of travel and the desired border crossing through which the person will exit the country.
Not the first evacuation
West Asian countries have a workforce of over 87 lakh Indians. The diaspora collectively sends annual remittances of $30 billion.
The latest evacuation from Iran is not the first. India launched Operation Ajay after the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023. In April 2023, when Sudan plunged into chaos, Operation Kaveri was launched to evacuate 400 people.
In 2021, when Kabul fell to the Taliban, 650 people were evacuated under Operation Devi Shakti. During the first wave of Covid, the Indian Navy launched Operation Samudra Setu to bring back citizens stuck in the Indian Ocean region. In 2015, Operation Raahat saw the Indian armed forces and Air India evacuate 5,600 people from Yemen.
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