Krishna, PM discuss unrest in Arab world

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the backdrop of violent protests in Gulf, West Asian and North African regions, which is home to lakhs of Indians.

Krishna is understood to have briefed Dr Singh on the various steps taken by his ministry to ensure the safety and security of Indians living in these regions.

The prime minister was briefed about the contingency plans of the ministry in case of any threat to the Indian population living in these regions, sources told PTI. Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and Tunisia have witnessed violent anti-government protests in the last few weeks.

"We are concerned about nurses in Benghazi (Libya) and our ambassador has reached out to them. They are safe. We have 3,000 Indians in the city," said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.

"We have no consular presence in Benghazi. We are working on contingency plan, rest assured. The city is on course and also close to Egypt border," she tweeted on the microblogging website Twitter.

Rao said Indian authorities will also be talking to other countries, particularly from the European Union, which have their nationals in Libya. She said the ministry of external affairs was also talking to various ministries which were coordinating closely with the ministry of overseas Indian affairs.

Rao said the experience gained from contingency plans while dealing with the crisis in Kuwait in 1991 and Lebanon in 2006 is being put to use to deal with the developing situation.