Chandan Sharma
The issue of safe evacuation of stranded Indian students in the
conflict zone has been debated widely at various global forums along with
ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It is a fact that the government
has been able to use diplomatic means dexterously to evacuate Indian students
from the war zone till now.
It is another matter,
as sanctions and curbs have been unable to stop full scale Russian
military attack on Ukraine, diplomacy has again brought in the place to tackle
the worsening situation not only for former USSR nations due to possible
spillover of the ongoing Eurasian crisis but also may take it entire Europe
too. UNGA, in an emergency meeting on Wednesday, condemned Russian invasion of
Ukraine, demanding Moscow to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
Meanwhile, PM Modi may talk to Ukrainian President on the
issue as well as evacuation of the stranded students. He has already talked to
Russian President Putin twice on the issue for ceasefire and evacuation of the
students. It worked too as a large number of stranded Indians able to evacuate
from the conflict zone. On the other hand, there are reports of sending of
additional support from NATO and US.
Earlier, Voting on two-day special emergency session of UNGA,
after failed UNSC resolution, indicates that process of diplomatically isolate
Russia has gathered pace in world body. The resolution was co-sponsored by the
96 nations, condemned the special military operation by Russia. The resolution
calls Russia for immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal from occupied
territories of Ukraine.
However, India abstained from the voting but called for an
“immediate ceasefire” in the conflict area hoping that next round of talks
would yield positive results. Issue of safe evacuation of students too has been
raised, including attack on a group of students as well as killing of Indian
student. It is notable that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hours before voting,
talked to the Russian President Putin for safe evacuation of Indian students.
Putin assured Modi for safe evacuation of students through Russian routes.
However, government in India has said that no student has
been made hostage in the war zone and maximum efforts have been made to
evacuate Indian students safely from the war zone and 17,000 Indian students
have been evacuated from the conflict zone to border nations like Hungary,
Romania, Poland and other countries. But matter of the fact is that thousands
of Indian students are still stranded there and conflict is intensifying day by
day despite all pressure. Modi’s efforts may give a big relief to the families
of stranded students but the larger issues related to war is still unresolved
and need to address it diplomatically.
Even the experts of Russia and Eurasian region too are unable
to understand the reason of such a full scale military attack on the
neighbouring nation. This is a matter of fact that Russia has some serious
security concerns on the issue including expansion of NATO in the area but they
believe that all the disputes and concerns are resolved amicably through
negotiations.
The UNGA’s special emergency session has been convened almost after four decades. The last time the Security Council convened such emergency session in 1982. This implicates maximum global diplomatic efforts to resolve the ongoing crisis despite the fact that General Assembly’s resolutions are non-binding.
(An independent initiative)
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