“Wuhan students were under scanner for links with Popular Front of India”

SOURCE: THE HINDU

A section of Indian students in Wuhan, most of whom have been evacuated as the city has emerged as the breeding ground of the deadly coronavirus, were on the radar of the intelligence agencies, for being suspected sympathisers of the Popular Front of India (PFI) — a group accused of having extremist links.

“The postings on social medial networks including WeChat raised the alarm that a PFI module could be emerging among some of the Indian students studying in Wuhan,” an official source told The Hindu. The official was referring to the Chinese microblogging site, which has millions of subscribers.

The suspicion of the PFI’s budding presence had impacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the city in April 2017 for the famous post-Doklam Wuhan informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “The SPG took the final call. Though many students were raising pro-Modi slogans near the hotel when the Prime Minister arrived late at night, a decision had already been taken against their interaction with Mr. Modi. There was therefore no Indian community event in Wuhan,” the official said.

However, students who had been evacuated over the weekend by two special Air India flights following the epidemic are being screened in the quarantine facility in Manesar only to make sure that they have not been infected by the virus, the source said.

Another official said the Air India flight that left for Wuhan on Saturday carried ‘ancillary’ medical equipment to be handed over to the Chinese authorities but it did not include face masks. “Unlike the Japanese and some other governments which sent face masks, we could not do so as a precautionary measure in case the disease spreads to India,” the official said.

The Indian health authorities are especially concerned about the possible spread of the respiratory disease from Nepal, where the outbreak has been reported. “The anxiety is that if the virus spreads to neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from Nepal, it would be hard to contain because of the high population density there,” the official said.

Alternatives to air evacuation

Planning for various contingencies, the Indian authorities are also considering alternatives to air evacuation, should a need arise for a mass exit from China. “There are limits to air evacuation, especially as this can be done only by experienced pilots. Besides, the turnaround time for aircraft coming from a highly infected area is long because planes have to be sanitised and monitoring the crew’s health will be of top priority.”

Evacuation by ship remains a possible option in view of the size of the population residing in China. “Roughly there are around 40,000 Indians in mainland China half of whom are students. Besides there are around 20,000 Indian passport holders and people of Indian origin in Hong Kong, many of whom may need to leave,” the source said.

Within China, the National Health Commission on Saturday confirmed 14,380 cases of the virus. So far 304 people had died but 328 patients have recovered. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is sending 1,400 medical workers to the newly built Huoshenshan hospital — a 1,000-bed facility in Wuhan built in a record eight days. Another hospital in the area which can accommodate another 1,600 patients is expected to be operational on February 6.

The U.S., the European Union, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Singapore have banned or restricted entry of Chinese nationals and any foreigners who have recently visited China to arrest the spread of the disease.

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