Cyrano wrote:Murthy garu,
The two important words are REQUEST and REQUIRE. I always thought REQUEST was addressed to foreign officials and REQUIRE to Indian officials at our borders and Indian missions abroad.
This is all a tortuous misinterpretation of the language. ALL of it is intended for agents of foreign governments. I have besides me the passports of four countries. They all have this language, one of them making the statement far more explicit, e.g. the UK one states 'Requests and Requires in the name of HM the queen...' . Japan is more polite and only uses 'request'.
Are we going to individually parse all of those differently ? The language is all outbound. The social contract between the people of India and its government is the constitution. For an Indian government officer the passport is an ID, nothing more. He/she doesn't read the document "Oh it says here I need to do something for you, thank God, if you didn't point that out I would not know how to treat you here".
Here's US policy on evacuation - the evacuee signs a promissory note to pay back the cost, typically equal to a full fare economy flight.
Information for U.S. Citizens about a U.S. Government-Assisted Evacuation
U.S. law requires that departure assistance to private U.S. citizens or third country nationals be provided “on a reimbursable basis to the maximum extent practicable.” By taking a U.S. government coordinated transport, evacuees are obligated to repay the cost of their transportation. The amount billed to evacuees is based on the cost of a full fare economy flight, or comparable alternate transportation, to the designated destination(s) that would have been charged immediately prior to the events giving rise to the evacuation. Because different evacuation transports may go to different destinations, the cost of one transport may be different than another. We encourage people to leave on the first transport they are able and eligible to board.
In the context of Ukraine, US citizens are advised:
Ukraine: Do not travel
The U.S. government will not be able to evacuate U.S. citizens from Ukraine.
Here's what US policy states on what it can and cannot do:
What the Department of State Can and Can't Do in a Crisis
This answers both questions directly - will the GOTUS save its people, and who pays for an evacuation that is arranged.
UK and Japan stated essentially the same thing - "we cannot evacuate. Leave immediately by any means possible. Remember how it was in Afghanistan a few months ago ?"
What the Indian government accomplished here is nothing short of jaw dropping - negotiating a temporary ceasefire among two warring parties to evacuate its own, 4500km away.
People have an outsized idea of the states ability to come save them abroad. It is hard for a western national to get consular access in Japan easily when they're prosecuted, and basically impossible in China. And we are talking consular access, not evacuation.
When you're outside the borders of your country, you're essentially on your own. If residing someplace and not merely visiting, it is in your best interest to register yourself with the nearest consular mission, and follow their advisories. People are influenced by movies too much. If anything what India did in pausing a war to evacuate its people is the stuff they make movies of.
. And we can understand the legal position in India; when two other countries are on war.
. Are they on some college excursion or in some life threatening situation??
