The Taliban invasion of Afghanistan has escalated the humanitarian crisis in the state, it has created scenes of turmoil, as triggering concerns and appeals arise globally about the safety of foreigners as well as locals. Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday urged and requested the external affairs minister S Jaishankar to arrange for the immediate evacuation of all Indians, including around 200 Sikhs, stranded in a Gurdwara in Afghanistan after the Taliban invaded the war-torn country.
In a tweet, Singh said, Urge @DrSJaishankar, MEA, GoI, to arrange for an immediate evacuation of all Indians, including around 200 Sikhs, stuck in a Gurudwara in Afghanistan after the #Taliban takeover. My govt is willing to extend any help needed to ensure their safe evacuation”.
Urge @DrSJaishankar, MEA, GoI, to arrange for immediate evacuation of all Indians, including around 200 Sikhs, stuck in a Gurudwara in Afghanistan after the #Taliban takeover. My govt is willing to extend any help needed to ensure their safe evacuation. @MEAIndia
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 16, 2021
“Afghanistan’s fall to #Taliban doesn’t augur well for our country. It’ll strengthen the Sino-Pak nexus against India (China has already sought militia’s help on Uyghur). The signs are not at all good, we need to be extra vigilant now at all our borders,” Singh had said in a tweet on Sunday.
Afghanistan’s fall to #Taliban doesn’t augur well for our country. It’ll strengthen the Sino-Pak nexus against India (China has already sought militia’s help on Uyghur). The signs are not at all good, we need to be extra vigilant now at all our borders.
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 15, 2021
Back in 2020, Sikhs from Afghanistan have alleged that they were subjected to persecution, as ‘kafir’ (infidel), were kidnapped for ransom and forced to embrace Islam. Afghan Sikh refugees in Delhi said they had previously urged PM Narendra Modi to listen to the plights of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus and implement the CAA before it was too late.
It is interesting to note that Captain Singh seems to be dwelling in a confusing world. As to please his political matters in Delhi, he had earlier taken a disturbingly anti-CAA stance although he was very well aware of the Sikh situation in Afghanistan, ironically now he seems specifically concerned about the Sikh community in Afghanistan.
The CAA has provisions for granting direct citizenship to people of the minority communities from the three neighbouring Islamic nations. Hindus and Sikhs who fled to India before December 2014, and were languishing for an Indian identity thus far, would be given direct citizenship. By rejecting, and speaking against CAA, Captain revealed how even for him, politics trumped empathy. The first victims of the Anti-Citizenship law in India are the Sikh devotees, who is the worse targeted in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan stares at an unpredictable future, as President Ashraf Ghani left the country just before Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban on Sunday. Since last year, the Modi government has been trying to rescue the plight of the Hindus and Sikhs who are a minority and worse hit community in Afghanistan by bringing out the CAA, which was outrightly opposed by Amarinder Singh and the Congress party. The Sikhs and Hindus constitute a very small population of Afghanistan, and their situation has always been horrifying in the Islamic state, but after the Taliban took over, it got worse.
Under the Taliban military regime, it is indeed terrifying that every Sikh and Hindu will be killed, converted or driven out, and seems like the Congress party has a pivot role in felicitating the same. The Congress party’s anti-CAA stance has been a grave betrayal towards the Sikhs and Hindu community in war-torn Afghanistan.