Countries Ask Citizens To Leave

Israel, Ireland, Malaysia and Iran today advised their nationals to consider leaving India and Pakistan amid fears of a conflict between the two neighbours.

A host of other countries, including the UK, the US, New Zealand and France have already advised their citizens to leave India and Pakistan. Japan, South Korea and Germany are also expected to make similar announcements tomorrow.

Israeli citizens travelling in India had been advised to cut short their visits and leave the Indian subcontinent, an Israeli foreign ministry statement said.

The UN has already decided to evacuate the families of its staff from India and Pakistan as a precautionary measure.

Although their relatives were being relocated, UN workers in both the countries would remain at their posts, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said yesterday.

Meanwhile, about 50 US nationals left India yesterday. The US has asked non-essential citizens to leave India. However, those who are leaving are the people who already had plans to leave because of the American school break that began yesterday.

There have been, however, no formal orders for anyone to leave. The US embassy has only issued a voluntary advisory. There is no airlift and the families are leaving by commercial airlines mostly.

There are about 4,000 US embassy families in Delhi alone. Travel advisories are valid for 30 days and are revised after that.