India working on plan to evacuate remaining Afghan Sikhs, Hindus

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India on Thursday made it clear that ensuring evacuation of citizens willing to leave Afghanistan is its top priority but also said that there has been no development on that front as the Kabul airport is currently not operational.

According to an Afghan Sikh ET spoke to, the government of India is listening to their concerns and has assured them of help.

“Right now, we have gone back from the Karte Parwan gurudwara in Kabul to our homes in Jalalabad, but there is a lot of uncertainty about the future. We want to join our family members who have already reached India. Officials and Sikh bodies coordinating from India have assured us that as soon as Kabul airport gets operational and other logistics are worked out, we will be evacuated in a week,” he added.

Taliban has promised ‘safe passage’ for the minorities who want to visit India for the 400th birth anniversary (Gurpurab) celebrations of Guru Teg Bahadur being organised in over 100 gurudwaras across the country this year.

Sikh organisations said there are about 140 Afghan Sikhs remaining in various cities of Afghanistan waiting to come to India. Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, at least 70 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus have been evacuated to Delhi in two batches of 24 and 46.

At least thrice in the last two weeks, owing to blasts outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport and sporadic firing by Taliban fighters, groups of Afghan Sikhs had to return from the airport.

Sikh organisations in India said that the Indian government has also not compromised on procedures and has limited the involvement of too many organisations in the outreach, considering the security implications.

“Be it the receiving of the saroops of Guru Granth sahibs or even making the 14-day quarantine in an ITBP camp mandatory, and not a Gurudwara as some of us had demanded, the government has been monitoring this issue with ministers and top officials so that there is no fallout,” a representative among the evacuees said.

He added that while the evacuation of a six-month-old baby who had no passport and some elderly Afghan nationals whose visas had expired was made possible by the intervention of Indian authorities on humanitarian grounds, the families had to spend hours at the airport in Delhi to get the formalities completed.

Puneet Singh Chandhok, president of Indian World Forum, one of the organisation working with MEA, told ET that the last time during an evacuation process when one of the six mini buses was stopped by Taliban outside the Kabul airport, it was the efforts of the Indian officials that had facilitated the entry of Afghan Sikhs, including two MPs, and arranged their subsequent evacuation.

“The Indian government is working very hard and our foremost focus is the safety of the Sikhs living there and their safe evacuation,” he said.

Another evacuee said both Afghan MPs in India, Narender Khalsa and Anarkali Honayar, have been coordinating with the government on the safety of the community members there.

“With the US having officially exited from Afghanistan, both the outer and inner tiers of the Kabul airport are under the Taliban which is safe during transit to airport and clearance for entry which are the biggest concerns, apart from getting clearances for a transit to another airport. We are not even talking of rehabilitation or rescue as we are aware of the Taliban’s promises to not harm us,” he added.

Many other Sikhs want to come to India, as some want to move to the UK, Canada, or the US. Some organisations such as Sobti Foundation have been sending out advisories to the Sikh community to not rely on promises made by countries such as Canada and others and not put their lives in peril, and appreciate the efforts of the Indian government that is helping them out.

Many Afghan Sikh evacuees here that ET spoke with said they were looking for ways to go to Canada or other countries.

“Some in Kabul prolonged their evacuation to India because they kept waiting for responses from organisations in Canada and the US that had promised them help,” a volunteer told ET.

India established its formal contact with the Taliban on Tuesday when the country’s ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai, the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha.

Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, president of World Punjabi Organization said Sikh organisations are set to meet on Saturday to finalise the rehabilitation plans for the evacuated Afghan Sikhs.
(The Economic Times)