New Delhi
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday lashed out at senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah after he tweeted that people’s lives are at stake in the strife-torn country.
“Simply appalled at your tweet! There are lives at stake; don’t do politics. Since the fighting started on April 14th, the Embassy of India in Khartoum has been continuously in touch with most Indian Nationals and PIOs in Sudan,” tweeted Jaishankar in response to Siddaramaiah’s tweet.
Due to security reasons the location and details of those people cannot be made public, he added.
In a series of tweets, Congress leader Siddaramaiah had urged the Government to immediately open diplomatic discussions and reach out to international agencies to ensure the well-being of Hakki-Pikkis.
‘It is reported that 31 people from Karnataka belonging to Hakki-Pikki tribe, are stranded in Sudan which is troubled by civil war. I urge @PMOIndia @narendramodi, @HMOIndia, @MEAIndia and @BSBommai to immediately intervene & ensure their safe return,’ he tweeted.
The Hakki-Pikkis in Sudan were left stranded without food for the past few days and the government has not yet initiated action to bring them back, he alleged.
‘It is also unfortunate to know that we have lost one Indian & 60 others in the ongoing civil war in Sudan. My deepest condolences to their families and pray for the peace in the region,’ he said in his message.
Hakki-Pikki, which means “bird catchers” in Kannada, is a Scheduled Tribe in Karnataka.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority Commissioner Manoj Rajan said, “We have got a message that a group of 31 people hailing from Karnataka are stranded in Sudan. We have informed the Ministry of External Affairs about it.”
The officer said his department has asked the group to follow the instructions of the Indian embassy in Sudan. “As of now, stranded people should stay wherever they are and not venture out. The MEA is seized of the matter and is working on it,” Rajan said in a statement.
At least, 185 people have been killed and over 1,800 wounded since the fighting erupted in Sudan following a sudden outbreak of violence over the weekend between the nation’s two top generals, each backed by tens of thousands of heavily armed fighters. This has left millions of people bound in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low and several hospitals forced to shut down.
About:
*The Hakki-Pikkis are semi nomadic tribal people, have four clans namely the Gujrathioa, Kaliwala, Mewara and Panwara.
*They speak many south Indian languages such as Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam along with Vagribooli which is similar to Guajarati.
Origin And History:
*The Hakki-Pikkis have a rich history. They are said to have an ancestral relation with the legendary Ranapratap Singh.
*The Hakki-Pikki tribal community is a Kshatriya or warrior tribal community which had to migrate to southern India after their defeat at hands of Mughal kings.
