 Known as one country with many destinations, Yemen has been ravished by war-like conditions as its capital, Sana, has fallen into the hands of the rebels. Sana is among the oldest and continuously inhabited cities of the world. The 2,500-year-old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The second largest country in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen till recently was home to a large number of Indians. The country witnessed a huge flare-up with aerial bombardments and firings of gunshots as an air of uncertainty gripped large parts of the country ever since the Arab Spring of 2011. Yemen has been in the throes of internal turmoil. The political uncertainty and unrest continued with the widening of differences between the Sadi Shia group of Houthis from northern Yemen and Yemen president Abdu Rabu Mansur Hadi. The situation was further aggravated after the Houthis strengthened their stranglehold on Yemen. The Yemen president fled the country. After the launch of the airstrikes by the coalition forces amid shelling and crossfire, Yemen was on the boil. Several people, the young and the old, men, women and children were all affected. All were keen to be evacuated and looked for refuge including the five-day-old baby who was born prematurely and developed respiratory problems soon after her birth. In a spectacular and a decisive operation styled as Operation Rahat, India managed to pull out several Indians and other foreign nationals trapped in Yemen. Acting with electorate to the situation in Yemen, India not only managed to swiftly and safely evacuate Indians but also rescued foreign nationals under the most difficult and trying circumstances. We got formal requests from 33 countries but we evacuated nationals of 48 countries including America, England, France, Germany, Australia. In all, we evacuated 4,474 people of India and 1,920 foreign nationals. People know the word war. It's a three-letter word. But we have seen what war means. What a terrifying experience it is. And when the guns were fired in the sky, our windows started shaking. Glass was broken in many cases. Children started shrieking. And it was a terrible, terrible experience. In Sana'a also, they put us on the first flight though we didn't have boarding passes. So I'm very grateful to the Indian Air Force to the Indian government for saving us, for taking us out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led from the front in grappling with the crisis on hand. Prime Minister Modi had a telephonic talk with Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Salt. The King of Saudi Arabia assured the Prime Minister of all necessary assistance. Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj personally spoke to the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia and requested him for assistance in the Indian evacuation efforts. The Indian approach to the evacuation process was guided by the spirit of Vasudeva Kutumbakam, or the world as one family. The Ministry of External Affairs anticipated the possible deterioration in the security environment in Yemen. Along with the Indian Embassy in Sana'a, it issued three advisories on the 21st of January, 19th of March and the 25th of March this year. The ministry urged the Indian nationals to leave Yemen voluntarily by available commercial means. But no one at that time paid heed to the ministry's requests. They preferred to wait till the situation had gone out of control and an operation had to be launched to evacuate them. The Indian Embassy was among the handful of foreign missions operational in Sana'a after the commencement of airstrikes. Formal requests boarded from as many as 33 countries for assistance in the evacuation of their nationals. These included not only the neighbors but also the western countries. India responded positively to these requests and succeeded in evacuating foreign nationals of 48 countries. As for her, the life of every human being is sacred. Logistical arrangements for the evacuation exercise were put in place by the External Affairs Ministry. An interministerial standing group for repatriation of Indian nationals from abroad was constituted which met on a daily basis to coordinate and implement the evacuation plans. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj chaired several meetings of this group to review the situation and to make effective plans for the evacuation by the air and the sea route. Operation Rahat was a very challenging operation. The land route was blocked. The airspace of Yemen was declared as no-flying zone and there were pirates in the sea. Our Prime Minister, Shrinarendra Modi spoke to the king of Saudi Arab and asked for help. After that we got permission to fly from Sana'a, the capital of Yemen for two to three hours a day. It was a joint effort of Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Indian Railways, Air India, Shipping Ministry, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs. I was coordinating from Delhi and my colleague, General V.K. Singh was overseeing the operations from Djibouti which was our camp office. Minister of State for External Affairs General V.K. Singh was given the charge of personally overseeing the rescue and evacuation of a large number of people. Given his background, as the former Army Chief General V.K. Singh had the necessary training and skills to lead such a sensitive operation. Without losing time General V.K. Singh visited Sana'a five times. He camped at Djibouti to personally oversee the evacuation work. He effectively coordinated with the officials, spoke to the rescued people and assured them that the government would ensure that all of them will reach their homes safely. Get your formalities completed move, vacate the ship go to the other ship so that you can eat out there and relax out there. Tomorrow you will be taken by vehicles to the airport and put into the aircraft to go back to India. Alright? We have experienced several challenges and managed to successfully overcome them. This was almost the last day of evacuating people and we had great difficulty in reaching because initially we had a little problem in Djibouti the ground staff was you know slightly overworked because it looked as if we have taken over they were calmed down we took off halfway through the ATC at Sanat told us we have your permission only for two aircraft why is the third aircraft coming turn back and go now we kept requesting ultimately we had to tell them look here if those two land the money for their parking and landing charges with this aircraft so we were able to convince them that we should also land then we were told you can't land because there is a airstrike going on there were fighters attacking areas around the airfield so which meant that you have to keep you know keep on hold and it was too dangerous in fact we were told that you go back but I think we prevailed and we landed and there were 600 plus people that day we took out everybody keeping in view the complexity of the operations Djibouti was made the hub for evacuation efforts Minister of State General V K Singh shuttle between Sana and Djibouti sparing no efforts to accomplish the most challenging task he was ably assisted by the Indian officers and staff the control room set up in the south block for around the clock monitoring of the evacuation work was buzzing with activity similarly in Djibouti too a control room was working on a regular basis 24 hour helplines were established in the Indian Embassy in Sana and the control room in Djibouti the control room which we had set up in Djibouti the ambassador of Ethiopia who also was having his accreditation to Djibouti was there and our honorable minister of state was also there in Djibouti so the control room was functioning under their guidance so our control room was constantly in touch in the control room in Djibouti was constantly in touch with the control room in India that was in Delhi and the Embassy in Sana as well as the community coordinators in other places in Yemen so that place was the nerve center of the entire operations so information whatever was available in all places were collated there and the action was coordinated from there the Indian government got in touch with the local Yemeni authorities and other governments in the region for their safe and timely evacuation the Indians evacuated from Yemen belonged to 27 states and Union territories most of them had lost all hope to be evacuated when the authorities including the minister of external affairs herself came to their rescue so desperate were the war-stricken people to get out of Yemen that they tried out every method including the option of tweeting to the external affairs minister that eventually helped them to be evacuated there are many stories of human interest but two became very popular one when we brought a five day old baby in an incubator and the other eight month old child was brought who has Yemeni mother and Indian father from this child's mother whose name is Sabasha Wesh I got a tweet at one o'clock in the night and she said that she was taking a chance and she asked me that she is Yemeni husband is Indian and her child is also an Indian passport holder can she be evacuated I asked for her phone number she gave me her phone number I personally spoke to her and said that my embassy officials will contact her the next day next day my embassy officials contacted her but she wanted one day more so the next day she was brought back and after landing in India she tweeted me thank you Sushma ji I am safe my child is also here with me Jai Hind then I tweeted back no need to thank Sabha I was only performing my duty towards my country and my countrymen God bless your child our young citizen Jai Hind these operations would not have been possible without the help of the armed forces especially the navy and the air force in fact the small boats played a big role in bringing the evacuees from the port to the ship which brought them to Djibouti from Djibouti they were transported back to India by planes the Indian navy launched an awe inspiring operation of rescuing the people trapped the people rescued were brought on board the ship where they were completely looked after they were provided food and beverages at regular intervals those in distress and trauma were provided urgent medical help the Indian navy rendered human services in helping children who came out of a traumatic situation a new humanitarian face of the Indian navy was visible India deployed 5 ships included 3 warships INS Sumitra INS Mumbai and INS Tarkash and 2 Indian vessels Kavarati and Korul the Indian naval ships evacuated people safely from Aden, Al Hudaida and Al Mukalla ports in Yemen despite heavy shelling and fighting between the warring factions the Indian navy had a key role to play in the entire operations the instructions were given after consultation between Ministry of External Affairs that we needed to evacuate our Indian nationals who were in Yemen we had INS Sumitra which was actually on gulf raid and patrol and that was deployed virtually within hours and to get onto the spot and was the first responder when we got started getting evacuating the Indians in that operation it was very clear that we would need more forces to be deployed and while Sumitra was there doing a marvelous job the ships company of Sumitra and the officers actually evacuated the Indians and the other nationals in the face of adversity we already had 2 ships INS Mumbai and Tarkash and 2 merchant ships were sailed out these were escorted by these 2 ships and while the transit was taking place to the Gulf of Aden it was a marvelous job by carrying out the evacuation of the Indians as well as the foreign action the no-fly zone imposed on the Yemeni airspace and blockade of sea route by the coalition forces made the evacuation exercise a complex and a very difficult task special permissions had to be obtained both from Yemen and Saudi Arabian authorities sighting of the planes in the hour of crisis brought a ray of hope to the Indians but even to the other foreign nationals 7 aircraft 3 from the Indian Air Force and 4 commercial planes were used to ferry the evacuees from Sana'a to Djibouti and onward to destinations in India in early March this year the government had asked the Indian Air Force to evacuate a number of Indians from Yemen so the world like situation there and it became untenable for the Indian diaspora to be safe there because of raging conflict in Yemen as a result of that a lot of agencies from India got involved in the evacuation activities from Yemen the Indian Air Force the Indian Navy the civil aviation ministry that is the Indian I would say and other civil vessels surface vessels sea weighing vessels were involved in the evacuation of Indian diaspora from Yemen the Indian Navy played a very important role in evacuating people from the port of Aden under very trying conditions they brought all the Indians to Djibouti on the east coast of Africa wherein the Indian Air Force had positioned C-17 strategic airlift aircraft at Djibouti airport for further evacuation of the Indian nationals from there to India these C-17 aircraft were equipped with all the equipment and the necessary logistics to ferry these Indian people from Djibouti to India we had put two sets of aircrew in each of these aircraft and since they are involved in operations around the clock for almost 10 days from 1st April to 10th of April this year we had flown close to 11 sorties evacuating close to 2100 Indian nationals and bring them back safely to India from Yemen it was a combination of Indian Air Force and commercial planes that brought Saka to the rescued people a number of trips were organized to save the people in a record time the Indian Government showed remarkable leadership and extraordinary ability in evacuating 6000 people from Yemen so efficiently and effectively and successfully and I think that was acclaimed around the world as a demonstration of Indian capability the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister of India were personally very involved in leading the evacuation process and in fact I had one of the Secretary's high officials from the Department of the Ministry of External Affairs having lunch with me one day when he received a phone call from the Foreign Minister who was seeking some advice showing how intimately involved she was in all aspects of the evacuation so I do know the Indian Government performed a very well and successful job that the world has recognized and commended that leadership in the case of Australia we had seven people from two families who were in distress and in trouble in Yemen and we had requested that the Indian Government support their Swiss evacuation from India and that happened seamlessly on a couple of flights out of Yemen and for that we're very appreciative of the assistance from the Indian Government so well done to India Going beyond the evacuation process the Indian Railways provided all hospitality to the people returning from Yemen and issued confirmed tickets free of cost for the onward journey to their homes Railways have been in forefront for extending help to the persons returning from Yemen we were in constant touch with Foreign Ministry and as per their evacuation plans we had made arrangements at airports bulk of the passengers came to Bombay almost 2000 passengers who were helped by our senior railway officials who received them helped them in getting reservations and provided free tickets to them and we made sure that after they landed at Bombay they reached their home hassle free and comfortably little more than 200 passengers landed at Kochi there our railway unit similar arrangement for their travelling arrangements up to their destination and that was also arranged free of cost and with confirmed reservations in this endeavor our senior officers had established help desks at airports they had established counters so that they can be received at proper place helped in every way they were provided with accommodation they were provided with food and other facilities so that their further journey is comfortable the concerned state governments provided all possible assistance to the evacuees on their arrival in India like the Maharashtra Government which provided 3000 rupees to each of the returnees to help them safely reach their homes very pathetic there now really we are very thankful to the ministry of external office when we reached in Djibouti then our minister we were kissing he was on board so he welcomed us and he gave a nice treat and he arranged everything in Djibouti under the close supervision of Indian Ambassador Amrit Lughun the embassy officials and staff in Yemen worked round the clock in the most trying circumstances to carry out the evacuation plans this gigantic exercise of the Indian government earned worldwide appreciation there in Yemen it's very dangerous guns and bombs we were scared here and my brother can't sleep I am John Horton from Northern Ireland I absolutely can't say enough about the Indian government for helping us to get out of Yemen we are aware that India through its operation Rahat has really done a lot and has been able to really not only save its own nationals but nationals citizens from other countries as well for that we are very appreciative we are very grateful we are thankful to the government of India for the rapid measures that have been taken and the comprehensive solution that has been taken in order to have the citizens, foreign citizens in the country of conflict to be placed in safer countries perhaps it was one of the toughest exercises that called for a multi-pronged and well coordinated and timely action to bring to safety thousands of Indians and other foreign nationals stranded in Yemen I am grateful to get out of Yemen and go to India hopefully it will get better we are in very big problem there Danzer, an Indian government has done this and saved our life without any cost we shall remember India in our whole life the Bangladesh High Commission here in New Delhi kept in contact with external affairs their high officials immediately and I believe it did not take longer time to get feedback from the Indian authorities almost immediately we got feedback from the Indian officials that they are very willing and ready to help us this unique and unparalleled exercise earned for the government the armed forces and for India an abiding respect and admiration the international community profusely loaded the Indian efforts I think more than 5000 people were rescued by India out of them there were about I think 900 foreign nationals Nepal also in this country sought help from MEA and Embassy of India in Shana Amen for the rescue of 18 Nepalis and we received full cooperation and assistance from the government of India when and where it is needed and government of India is with us maybe the case of Amen maybe the case of Iraq and elsewhere the people of Nepal government of Nepal were very much thankful for all this kind of generous kindness works and this is I think this is for humanitarian ground Indian nationals not in position of travel documents were provided with emergency certificates by the Indian Embassy in Shana the government left no stone unturned to assist all those Indians in Yemen desirous of returning home in a safe and timely evacuation in fact the Ministry of External Affairs came to the rescue of the 5 day old baby whose mother found herself in a precarious condition as she had no means to take care of a child acting as a mother the Ministry of External Affairs not only arranged a lady doctor but also managed to get an incubator for the child I saw a lady carrying it looked as if she was carrying a doll you know it was looking very light and the way she climbed up and all that and it is later in the aircraft because I had a habit of going and talking to people I saw this little baby and I said how old is the baby and she said 5 days I was actually aghast I for a minute I didn't know what to tell her I said why did you have to wait of course we learnt later that I think it was a premature child but still I thought in such a condition she should have gone back home when we got down we got the baby examined the baby was suffering from severe jaundice we had Dr. Uma Indian out there who took charge she got the baby put into the incubator and ultimately next day with the incubator she flew back to India with the child but it was it gave us a lot of palpitation if I can put it that way we brought the baby in the incubator with phototherapy, oxygen and IV fluids so that during transportation of you know 5-6 hours the baby is quite stable so now baby is ok we will take the baby to the hospital and should be alright just as the government managed to rescue and revive the prematurely born 5 day old child who was brought in an incubator the Indian effort seemed to provide an incubator like protection to all those who were rescued and brought back to safety indeed it was Operation Drahat which brought relief not only to the evacuees but also to those who worked round the clock to save precious human lives