India: Yemen rescue prompts goodwill towards Pakistan

Hundreds of foreigners are being evacuated from Yemen as fighting escalates

Relations between India and Pakistan have often been tense and marked by mutual distrust, but the crisis in Yemen seems to have prompted some goodwill between the rival states.

A Pakistani Navy ship evacuated 11 Indians from Yemen earlier this week along with 171 of its own citizens. They were taken first to Karachi, then flown to Delhi on Wednesday by a Pakistan Air Force plane. Pakistan's help was praised by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who publicly thanked his counterpart on Twitter. "I welcome our 11 citizens who've returned from Yemen with assistance from Pakistan. Thank you PM Nawaz Sharif for your humanitarian gesture", Mr Modi wrote.

Across the border in Pakistan, the tweets received a warm response from Mr Sharif's daughter, who thanked Mr Modi for his "kind words". "Glad that our Indian friends reached home safely. Humanity is what binds us together," wrote Maryam Nawaz Sharif. She signed off the tweet with "BW, NS", ostensibly on behalf of her father. There was also praise from India's foreign secretary, S Jaishankar , who said Pakistan "took great trouble and we need to appreciate that". Air India has been running rescue missions out of Yemen's war-torn capital Sanaa for hundreds of its own nationals and citizens of many other countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

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