Journos denied help by Indian Embassy

Dubai, July 18: Three Indian media professionals, caught in a crossfire in Lebanon, have complained that the Indian embassy in Beirut rejected their pleas for assistance.

The group alledged that they pleaded with the Embassy to call or send emails to their families to inform that they were safe, but the latter refused to grant favour explaining that personal phone calls and e-mails from the embassy were not allowed.

A consular official asked them to head for the border to enter Syria, but a request for a letter, transport or an Arabic-speaking escort was rejected, Sathya Mithra, editor of a technology magazine who was travelling with two other compatriots to attend a product launch, said.

''The ambassador was present at the embassy, but we could not meet her,'' Ms Mithra told the Khaleej Time.

A request to make a local phone call was also turned down.

However, the organisers of the media event contacted them and made transport arrangements and provided an Arabic-speaking escort.

Initially, Syrian officials on the border refused to give a visa saying there should be a stamp either from the Indian or the Syrian embassy in Beirut, but they allowed them to proceed when informed that they were journalists based in Dubai.

The three drove to the Damascus airport, took a flight and landed in Dubai on July 14. ''It was a close shave, but we were lucky,'' Sathya said.

The trio was anguished by the lackadaisical attitude of the Indian embassy in Beirut. However, when contacted from here, ambassador Nengcha Lhouvurn was apologetic about what had happened.

This incident comes closely on the heels of a complaint by an Indian father, whose son died in Beijing, that the Indian embassy officials demanded Rs 2.9 million to get his son's body back.

The Ministry of External Affairs refuted the charges made by Soman Ramabhandran, whose son, a medical student, died while playing football in the college campus.

UNI

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