ITBP personnel at Kabul embassy brought back to India too
Darpan News Desk IANS, 17 Aug, 2021 11:11 AM
New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on Tuesday said all its security personnel deployed for guarding the Indian Embassy at Kabul have returned back to India along with the embassy officials.
Amidst the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, the Indian government decided to recall all embassy personnel from Kabul and they were evacuated by an Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft on Tuesday. The IAF aircraft brought back 120 Indian officials, including the last batch of the Indian embassy staff and ITBP personnel, from the Kabul airport.
They also said that ITBP troopers were staying there as Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon, along with some embassy staff, was there and the Indian Embassy in Kabul was functioning with reduced staff. However, after evaluating the critical situation in the war-torn country, the government decided to call them back.
The Kabul airport was closed on Monday evening but it was reopened for evacuation operations on Tuesday morning by the American agencies. Officials in the security set up said that for evacuating Indian officials and staffers from Afghanistan, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval spoke to his US counterpart Jake Sullivan as US troops are deployed at the airport.
The Indian government had already evacuated majority of the officials from there, anticipating the Taliban advance into Kabul, and also advised all Indian citizens to leave the country at the earliest. The families of the diplomats and embassy personnel have been evacuated last week and the Indian consulates have already been closed a fortnight ago.
Throwing a new dimension to the ongoing Pegasus spyware phone-tapping controversy, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) expressed deep apprehensions that some 'foreign powers' may be snooping on the country, here on Tuesday.
While 12 students are from Kailash Nagar, eight are from Basti Jodhewal. District Magistrate Varinder Kumar Sharma has ordered closure of both schools till August 24.
Expressing concern over "inimical powers from across the border trying to exploit the resentment and disgruntlement against the government", he sought an enduring and expeditious solution to the farmers' concerns.
Citing the recent heavy influx of weapons, hand grenades, and IEDs into the state, with Pakistan's ISI also raising the ante ahead of the Independence Day and in the run-up to the Assembly polls, he told Shah at a meeting here this evening that the security situation was grave and needed the Centre's immediate intervention.
