Local Editor
The Indian embassy in Oman has stopped granting medical visas to a number of Yemen’s war wounded after pressure from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a Yemeni source told Arabi21.
According to the website, 150 wounded Hadi loyalists from Taiz governorate in Yemen’s southwest travelled to Oman in August in preparation for being transferred to Indian hospitals for treatment.
However, a source close to the wounded soldiers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Indian embassy stopped short of issuing special medical visas for all the soldiers, granting 90 but leaving another 60 in the lurch.
The source said the embassy "has been under pressure from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to stop issuing visas for unreasonable reasons. One of these reasons is that this campaign is organized by the Popular Resistance commander in Taiz, Hamoud Saeed al-Mikhlafi."
Mikhlafi, an influential figure who controls a pro-regime militia and has ties with the Yemeni Congregation for Reform – Yemen’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, better known as al-Islah – has a fractious relationship with the Saudis and Emiratis, who are also allied to pro-regime forces.
The source said the prominence the Indian campaign gave Mikhlafi, as well as the huge reception it got in Oman, "raised concerns in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi about the return of Mikhlafi to the scene”.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE “have already exerted severe pressure to get him out of the scene of confrontations in Taiz,” the source added.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
