Plans made to airlift stranded Indians from South Kyrgyzstan

Vinay Shukla
Moscow, June 14 (PTI) As ethnic clashes continued in
Southern Kyrgyzstan, the Indian Government is making
arrangements to evacuate over hundred Indians, mostly
students, stranded in the violence-hit areas where the death
toll in five days of rioting has crossed 113.
The Indians, a majority of them students, are trapped in
Kyrgyzstan's southern Osh city, which has been ripped by
street fighting and arson.
Indian diplomatic sources in the Kyrgyz capital said the
mission is arranging for a special aircraft to fly out the
Indians from Osh.
"As soon the situation permits, the Indians will be flown
out to safety," sources said.
"Everything possible will be done to ensure the well
being and safety of the Indians," the sources told PTI.
The mission was in close touch with those trapped in the
violence-hit city as well as with the concerned authorities in
that country, including their foreign ministry, to ensure
safety of the Indian community.
They said the mission was also closely monitoring the
situation in the nearby city of Jalalabad near the Uzbek
border, where the authorities on Sunday clamped a state of
emergency till June 22 and clamped round-the-clock curfew.
"Some Indians could also be there and attempts are being
made to ascertain their welfare," sources said.
Kyrgyz Health officials have put the casualties at 113
deaths, with as many as 1,400 people injured. However,
Ferghanaru web site quoting its sources in the Uzbek dominated
areas said "death toll runs in hundreds." It said that scores
of dead bodies were lying on the streets of small towns which
have compact Uzbek population.
The interim president Roza Otunbayeva has also conceded
that the death toll could be higher than official figures as
the interim government struggles to stem the worst ethnic
clashes since the end of the Soviet Union.
Interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva's provisional
government had over the weekend given security forces
shoot-to-kill orders to protect civilians, amid growing calls
from foreign leaders and aid groups to end the clashes. PTI