India evacuating its nationals from consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif
New Delhi, Aug 10: India is evacuating its staff from its consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif in view of the rapidly escalating violence by the Taliban around the capital city of Balkh province, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.
The Indian-based staff of the consulate and a number of Indians residing in Mazar-e-Sharif are being evacuated due to the deteriorating security scenario in the city as well as areas around it, they said.
It is learnt that a special aircraft of the Indian Air Force will evacuate the staff as well as the Indian citizens from the fourth-largest city of Afghanistan.
"A special flight is leaving from Mazar-e-Sharif to New Delhi. Any Indian nationals in and around Mazar-e-Sharif are requested to leave for India in the special flight scheduled to depart late today evening," the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif tweeted.
It asked Indian citizens who want to leave by the special flight to submit the details like their full name and passport number to the consulate immediately.
It is learnt that the consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif will continue to operate through the local staff members.
Last month India pulled out around 50 diplomats and security personnel from its consulate in Kandahar following intense clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban fighters around the city.
A special aircraft of the Indian Air Force was sent to bring back the Indian diplomats, officials and other staff members including a group of Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel.
According to government data, around 1,500 Indians are currently staying in Afghanistan.
Last week, the Ministry of External Affairs said in Lok Sabha that India remained vigilant and is taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of Indians in the conflict-ridden country.
The Taliban has been making rapid advances across Afghanistan by resorting to widespread violence since the US began withdrawing its troops on May 1.
The US has already pulled back the majority of its forces and is looking to complete the drawdown by August 31.
Security Advisory for Indian Nationals in Afghanistan@MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/yB13DRpkgT
— India in Afghanistan (@IndianEmbKabul) August 10, 2021
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
