GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 27th Aug. The Ministry of External Affairs gave information about the evacuation of Indians from Afghanistan in a press conference on Friday.
Ministry spokesman Bagchi said, we have evacuated more than 550 people from Kabul or Dushanbe in six different aircraft. Of these, 260 are Indians. The Government of India has also made arrangements for the evacuation of Indian citizens from Afghanistan through other agencies. We are in touch with countries like America and Tajikistan regarding this.
Bagchi said that our assessment so far is that most of the Indians who wish to return from Afghanistan have been evacuated. Now some more people are in Afghanistan. I do not have any definite information about the number of such people.
He said that along with citizens of other countries, we have also evacuated some Afghan citizens from there. Many of these are Sikhs and Hindus. Our main focus will be on the evacuation of Indian citizens, but we will also stand with the Afghan nationals who stood up for us.
Regarding Afghan nationals coming to India, Bagchi said that the Union Home Ministry has announced e-emergency visa for such people. The duration of this visa is six months. Therefore, at present, such Afghan nationals are coming to India with a visa period of six months.
Bagchi said that after the security system in Afghanistan was destroyed, there were reports that some people attacked one of our outsourcing agencies, where Afghan passports and Indian visas were kept. After this our officers came on high alert. We are now adopting the system of e-emergency visas.
Bagchi said that the Foreign Secretary will participate in various programs for the concluding session of our Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly (UNSC). These include the UNSC’s open briefing on the Middle East. After the completion of these programs in New York, he will go to the US Capital Washington DC for bilateral discussions.
He said, “We want a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Afghanistan. We are constantly monitoring the situation here. Our priority is on the security situation in evacuating people from Afghanistan and we are seeing how that changes. Other countries are also following a wait and watch policy.”
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