• Thursday, March 28, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

Everything is finished: Afghanistan Sikh senator in India

Representational Image (Photo by AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

TWO senators from Afghanistan were among the 24 Sikhs who reached India on Sunday (22) morning after the Taliban took control of the country in the wake of the western forces’ withdrawal. One of them, Senator Narendra Singh Khalsa, broke down when asked about the situation in the war-torn nation.

“I feel like crying… Everything that was built in the last 20 years is now finished. It’s zero now,” he told reporters at the Hindon air base near Delhi, where their flight — a special flight from the Indian Air Force – landed on Sunday.

Recalling the harrowing experience of the past seven days after the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, Khalsa said the situation is “very bad” and appealed to the Narendra Modi government to rescue the remaining stranded Hindus and Sikhs.

ALSO READ: Not all Sikhs stranded in Afghanistan want India shelter

“Situation is very bad. We had to face a lot of difficulties. Thank God for saving our lives as we had to face harrowing times in the last few days. My expectation from the Indian government is that all those who are still stuck are brought back,” he said.

“The Taliban used to ask us to remain in Afghanistan saying your security is our responsibility. As there are so many groups of Taliban, we do not know whom to speak to and whom to believe. That’s why we decided to leave as the situation is serious,” he added.

Despite Taliban promising ‘rights’, Afghan women fear return of ‘dark age’

The C-17 plane evacuated 168 people from Kabul, including 107 Indians, on Sunday after it was allowed to operate two flights a day from Kabul to bring back its stranded citizens. Anarkali Honaryar was the other senator who reached India. Their families were also with them.

More Indians from Afghanistan reached India in other flights, operated by Air India, IndiGo and Vistara, which came via other countries like Tajikistan and Qatar.

Many of the evacuees are from a gurudwara in Kabul, where they took shelter for days. They will be moved to Delhi’s Bangla Sahib gurudwara next.

Khalsa said almost all Indians and Afghan Sikhs were taking shelter at gurudwaras in Kabul and elsewhere and that some 200 other Indians and Indian-origin people are still waiting to be rescued. “The gurudwaras are serving people by providing shelter and food. We are worried about our people who are still staying there,” he said.

When asked about the brief detention of Indians and the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus on Saturday (21) by the Taliban when they were on their way to the Kabul airport, the senator said all of them had to go through harrowing experiences.

“They separated us from the Indians…In each of the gates at the airport, 5000-6000 people were standing. Initially, we could not go inside,” he said.

“A person from Taliban harassed us. Then we left the place and came to a gurudwara. Our Indian friends were also harassed. It was difficult to understand who was a good person and who was bad. Then around 8 at night, we entered the airport through a VIP entry point,” he said.

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