Krishna meets PM on civil unrest in Wasia

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S MKrishna today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against thebackdrop of violent protests in Gulf, West Asian and NorthAfrican regions which is home to lakhs of Indians.

Krishna is understood to have briefed Singh on thevarious steps taken by his Ministry to ensure safety andsecurity of Indians living in these regions where civilianunrest is spreading.

The Prime Minister was briefed about the contingencyplans of the ministry in case of any threat to the Indianpopulation living in these regions, sources told PTI.

Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and Tunisia have been witnessingviolent anti-government protests in the last few weeks.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao meanwhile said twomeetings were held today and strategies could take shape overthe next few days.

"We are concerned about nurses in Benghazi (Libya) andour ambassador has reached out to them. They are safe. We have3,000 Indians in the city," she said.

"We have no consular presence in Benghazi. We areworking on contingency plan, rest assured. The city is oncourse and also close to Egypt border," she tweeted on themicroblogging website Twitter.

Rao also said India will also be talking to othercountries particularly from European Union which have theirnationals in Libya.

She said Ministry of External Affairs was also talkingto various ministries concerned and coordinating closely withMinistry of Overseas Indian Affairs.

Rao said Government is also in the process ofagumenting staff in its Tripoli mission including despatchingan an Arabic interpreter from Delhi.

She also said the experience gained from contingencyplans while dealing with the crisis in Kuwait in 1991 andLebanon in 2006 is being put to use to deal with developingsituation.