Protecting the Indian diaspora in conflict zones is a growing foreign-policy priority. Discuss with reference to the Gulf.

The Gulf hosts India's largest overseas workforce, with about 2.75 million Indians in Saudi Arabia alone [1]. The renewed Saudi–Houthi conflict of 2026 shows that protecting them is now a core security task, not just routine consular work.

Why it is a growing priority

• Direct exposure: An Indian national died after the Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on 10 October 2026, and several more Indians were treated in ICUs [2].
• Maritime workforce: About 6,000 seafarers are trapped behind Hormuz, and the Houthis claim they have closed the Bab al-Mandab [3]. Indian crews depend on both of these routes.
• Economic stakes: In early 2024, Red Sea attacks cut Suez Canal trade by 50% [4]. Gulf jobs, remittances and energy supply are all exposed to the same disruption.
• Domestic expectation: Earlier evacuations have shaped public expectations. Operation Raahat brought more than 4,700 Indians out of Yemen in 2015 [5].

India's toolkit

• Evacuation capacity: Raahat used Navy ships and IAF C-17s working from Djibouti [5].
• Welfare financing: The Indian Community Welfare Fund (set up in 2009) pays for air passage, medical care and repatriation of remains. It has funded evacuations from Libya, Iraq and Yemen [6].
• Consular presence: Embassy officials visited hospitals and helped families with funeral formalities [2].

Challenges

• Scale: Nobody can airlift 2.75 million people [1], so most Indians have to be protected where they live.
• Exit routes under fire: Airports are being struck, and airlines have suspended flights to Saudi Arabia [2]. Sea lanes are contested as well [3].
• Two-front risk: Disruption at Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab at the same time leaves ships with no nearby fallback route [3].

Way forward

• Register workers by city through the missions, and keep land and sea exit plans ready.
• Set up standing evacuation agreements with Gulf states and with neighbouring hubs such as Djibouti.
• Use diplomacy to press for de-escalation and safe passage for seafarers.

Protecting the diaspora now draws on consular, military and diplomatic tools together. If India pairs ICWF-backed welfare with plans to shelter people where they live and with active diplomacy for de-escalation, it can turn this vulnerability into a source of soft power and meet its duty to its citizens abroad.