Afghan Sikhs appeal for safe evacuation of family members

Chaos at Kabul airport as Afghans rush to leave country (IANS photo)


As the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating fast after the takeover by the Taliban, several Sikh families are stuck there and are looking for safe passage out of the war-ravaged country. One of them is Sanmeet Singh, an Afghan Sikh, whose family members are in Afghanistan and they have no idea how to return to India.

Sanmeet Singh has requested the Indian government to evacuate his family members stuck in Afghanistan as soon as possible.

Sanmeet Singh, who came to the Afghanistan Embassy in New Delhi on Monday to rectify a mistake in his passport, claimed, “after the embassy got him to get his passport re-issued, the name was spelt wrongly. The embassy has not given any word on correcting the name in the passport.”

Sanmeet Singh, who lives in Tilak Nagar, Delhi, has appealed to the Government of India to evacuate his family members from Afghanistan soon.

He told IANS, “I just want to make this appeal to the Government of India, that 80 to 90 Sikhs who are stuck there should be taken out and sent to Delhi as soon as possible.”

“They are presently put up at Kardeparwan Gurdwara in Kabul. Afghanistan is in a very difficult situation,” he said.

He added, “If I had left about a week ago for Kabul, I would have brought my family members back to India. Several of my relatives are stuck there.”

While talking to the media, Sanmeet broke down as he prayed for the safety of his family.

The Afghanistan embassy in Delhi saw a stream of people on Monday morning, some came to tell their problems to the embassy authorities and some wanted information about their family members.

Reports say thousands of people have stormed the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, in the hope of getting out of the war-torn country. There is no flight in or out of Kabul airport as of now.