India making efforts to bring citizens from Afghanistan
Darpan News Desk IANS, 16 Aug, 2021 11:56 AM
New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Indian intelligence and security establishments are making all efforts to bring its citizens from Afghanistan with Air Force transport aircraft already being mobilised and a few of them kept on standby.
Fearing attacks on the Indian community working with private companies in Afghanistan, the intelligence agencies have sent out alerts to them to be ready to be transported back to the country.
Unlike the United States Central Intelligence Agency which gathered the sense that Taliban will take months to capture Kabul, India's Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) was fully aware that "it was just a matter of days".
Also sensing the Afghan warlords would not be able to resist Taliban advances, unlike in the 1990s, Indian security establishments made all efforts to vacate the citizens from Afghanistan. Currently, Indian Embassies in Afghanistan are secured and all necessary precautions have been placed. "The rest of the Indians will be evacuated soon," said a source.
On Monday, complete unrest and panic gripped Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in Kabul. People have started fleeing the country fearing return to the brutal rule the Taliban imposed when it was last in power.
At the Kabul airport, five people were killed and three stowaways fell to their deaths from an airborne plane on Monday during an attempt to flee the country.
Thousands of citizens gathered at the Hamid Karzai International Airport to get into the US aircraft leaving from the airport.
Panicked Afghans were also running in front of the US aircraft in a bid to get cling to the wheels of the plane preparing to take off.
In the meantime, all commercial services have been suspended, with only military flights leaving the country.
The Taliban swept into the capital on Sunday after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the country.
This is a significant development after the new Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw made it crystal clear within minutes of taking charge that "law of the land is supreme" and no one can afford to disrespect it.
Denying reports of his resignation, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's media advisor Raveen Thukral said on Thursday that the former would lead the Congress to victory in the Assembly elections scheduled early next year.
India is still witnessing the second wave which is not yet over as northeastern states and some parts of south India are still battling it, a member of the government's Covid expert panel said on Thursday.
The passage of the bill through both the houses of the parliament will be fulfilment of the demand of 12 lakh Indians who marched across 22 states and 12,000km demanding a strong law against trafficking along with Kailash Satyarthi in 2017.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has announced waiver of Rs 590 crore worth of loans under the farm debt waiver scheme for labourers and the landless farming community, an official statement said on Wednesday.
