Tuesday, 24 August 2021 | PNS | New Delhi
Jaishankar to brief leaders
As India is engaged in a big rescue operation to bring out its citizens from strife-torn Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will brief Parliamentary leaders of various political parties on August 26 about the situation there.
This forthcoming all-party interaction comes at the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said here on Monday. He said the physical briefing will take place at 11 am on Thursday in Parliament House Annexe.
“Floor leaders of political parties would be briefed by EAM @DrSJaishankar on the present situation in Afghanistan, on 26th August, 11am in Main Committee Room, PHA, New Delhi. Invites are being sent through email. All concerned are requested to attend,” Joshi tweeted.
“In view of developments in Afghanistan, PM @narendramodi has instructed that the MEA brief Floor Leaders of political parties. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs @JoshiPralhad will be intimating further details,” Jaishankar tweeted earlier.
Sources said the first ever briefing of this sort is expected to focus on India’s evacuation, and Afghanistan situation.
This high-level exchange comes after the Taliban took control of Kabul and many other provinces more than ten days back leading to chaos and fear. Modi on August 17 chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and directed officials to ensure the safe evacuation of Indians stranded in Afghanistan.
Concerned over the safety and security of its citizens, India has, so far, evacuated 730 people, including members of the Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities.
On Monday, 146 Indians were brought to New Delhi in four different flights from Qatar’s capital Doha, days after they were evacuated from Afghanistan by NATO and American aircraft.
A special IAF transport aircraft is now involved in an operation to bring three copies of Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib and 75 people, including 46 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus from Kabul. They are expected to land in New Delhi later in the day.
Announcing the evacuation flight, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri took to Twitter to say, “Three Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji are being escorted to the IAF aircraft at Kabul Airport. Forty-six Afghan Hindus and Sikhs along with stranded Indian nationals are blessed to return on the same flight.”
Nearly 200 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are still stranded in Afghanistan, said Puneet Singh Chandhok, president of the Indian World Forum, an organisation coordinating the evacuation efforts with the Ministry of External Affairs.
Explaining the challenging nature of the rescue operation now underway, Chandhok said the Sikhs and Hindus are now lodged at Gurudwara Karte Parwan.
He said the 10-kilometre-long drive to the international airport from the Gurdwara Karte Parwan through various checkpoints is one of the biggest challenges in the rescue efforts. Around 100 more Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are likely to be evacuated in a couple of hours, Chandhok added.
The evacuation of these 46 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus at such a challenging time is a big relief for us, said Manjinder Singh Sirsa, president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, which is also coordinating with the Indian Government in the evacuation mission.
On Sunday, 392 people, including two Afghan MPs, were evacuated in three different flights under the evacuation mission. The Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15 and within two days after that 200 Indians, including the Indian Ambassador to Kabul, were brought out safely from there.
The first evacuation flight brought back over 40 people, mostly staffers at the Indian embassy, on August 16. The second aircraft evacuated around 150 people, including Indian diplomats, officials, security personnel and some stranded Indians from Kabul on August 17.
Since the Kabul international airport is now under the control of the US armed forces, a special team of Indian officials is in Kabul to coordinate with the US to ensure safe passage for the Indian evacuees.
Given the fluid situation at the Kabul airport, Indian planes are now parked at Dushanbe and Tashkent airports and NATO and US planes are ferrying the Indians to these airports for an onward journey, sources said.
