Indian who was shot in Kyiv during Ukraine-Russia war returning to India on Monday: V K Singh
New Delhi, Mar 6: Indian student Harjot Singh who was shot in Kyiv in Ukraine a few days ago is returning to Delhi on Monday, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said.
His family in Delhi said they are "very very happy" that he is returning and are eagerly awaiting his arrival.
"Harjot Singh is the Indian who was shot during the war in Kyiv. His passport was also lost in the chaos," V K Singh tweeted.
He said Harjot Singh is reaching India with him on Monday.
"Hope there is a speedy recovery with home food and care," the minister stated.
Singh, who is in Poland currently to facilitate students' evacuation, had on March 4 told reporters, "Today, we heard reports that a student leaving Kyiv was shot. He was taken back to Kyiv. This will happen in a fighting."
On February 27, 31-year-old Harjot Singh, along with his two friends, boarded a cab for the western Ukrainian city of Lviv in a bid to escape Kyiv. He received four bullets, including one in the chest.
"We got the news (about his return) from the media. We are very very happy that Harjot is returning. We have been very worried for him. I haven't been able to talk with him over phone, but he texted saying he is coming tomorrow. No government officials have apprised us on it," his brother Prabhjot Singh told PTI.
The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday announced that the government has decided to bear medical expenses of Harjot Singh.
On March 1, medical student Naveen SG from Karnataka was killed in shelling in Ukrainian city of Kharkiv when he ventured out to buy food for himself and fellow students.
The Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive against it. Indian citizens stuck in Ukraine were being airlifted once they cross to neighbouring countries such as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
Eight flights with more than 1,500 Indians will operate from Ukraine's neighbouring countries to India on Monday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation stated.
हरजोत सिंह वह भारतीय हैं जिन्हें कीव में युद्ध के दौरान गोली लग गई थी। अफरातफरी में इनका पासपोर्ट भी गुम गया था।
— General Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 6, 2022
सहर्ष सूचित कर रहा हूं कि हरजोत कल भारत हमारे साथ पहुंच रहे हैं।
आशा है घर के खाने और देखभाल के साथ शीघ्र स्वास्थ्यवर्धन होगा।#OperationGanga#NoIndianLeftBehind pic.twitter.com/NxOkD9mJ9U
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Who is Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, appointed acting president after crash?
Dubai (AP/PTI): Iran's first Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was appointed as acting president of the Islamic Republic on Monday after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in the country's northwest.
Raisi's death under the constitution thrust Mokhber into public view. He is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before mandatory presidential elections in Iran.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement of Mokhber's appointment in a condolence message he shared for Raisi's death in the crash Sunday. The helicopter was found Monday in northwestern Iran.
Despite his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held prominent positions with in the country's power structure, particularly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations.
Mokhber oversaw a bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The US Treasury said the organisation oversaw billions of dollars in assets as “a business juggernaut under the direct supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that has a stake in nearly every sector of the Iranian economy, including energy, telecommunications, and financial services”.
“EIKO has systematically violated the rights of dissidents by confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime, including political opponents, religious minorities, and exiled Iranians,” the Treasury said in 2021 in sanctioning Mokhber. The European Union also had sanctioned Mokhber for a time with others over concerns then about Iran's nuclear programme.
As the head of EIKO, Mokhber oversaw an effort to make a COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic, pledging to make tens of millions of doses.
Mokhber previously worked in banking and telecommunications. He also worked at the Mostazafan Foundation, another bonyad that's a major conglomerate that manages the country's mega-projects and businesses. While there, he found himself entangled in a bitter legal dispute between mobile phone service providers Turkcell and South Africa's MTN over potentially entering the Iranian market.
Iranian media reports suggest Mokhber, who holds a doctorate in international law, was crucial in Iranian efforts to bypass Western sanctions on its oil industry.
Mokhber has been a member of Iran's Expediency Council since 2022, which advises the supreme leader, as well as settles disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog that also oversees the country's elections.
Mokhber was born Sept 1, 1955, in Dezful in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province to a clerical family. He served as an officer in the Revolutionary Guard's medical corps during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, according to the pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran.
“Mokhber used the vast wealth accumulated by EIKO — at the expense of the Iranian people—to reward regime insiders like himself,” UANI said. “Managing the patronage network endeared him to the supreme leader, but at a cost.”
