Hardeep Singh Puri says ‘CAA necessary’, cites hard times faced by Hindus, Sikhs in Kabul

As the flight ferrying 168 passengers from Kabul — including 107 Indians from Afghanistan landed in Delhi early on August 22, Sunday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri asserted that the current situation is "a perfect example of enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the country. This comment by the Union Minister came after it was reported that people from Sikh and Hindu communities had taken refuge at the Karte Parwan Gurdwara in the Afghan capital. Citing those deteriorating security situations in Afghanistan, Puri took to Twitter, and wrote, "Recent developments in our volatile neighbourhood & the way Sikhs & Hindus are going through a harrowing time are precisely why it was necessary to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act."

Hardeep Singh Puri tweet:

Why minister reiterates for implementing CAA

The current situation in the war-torn country has brought the controversial CAA again into discourse as it grants Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who arrived in India before the end of December 2014. Earlier in December 2019, lakhs of People gathered in the northeast Delhi area to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019. The Delhi CAA protest turned violent after a riot broke out between the two communities.

India has so far evacuated around 300 people from Afghanistan

The Indians were taken to Tajikistan's capital of Dushanbe from Kabul onboard a transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday. The minister also retweeted a video in which passengers who were being evacuated raised slogans of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" as the flight lifted off from Dushanbe Airport. It is worth mentioning that India has so far evacuated around 300 people from Afghanistan including its ambassador and all other diplomats. The government has been evacuating its citizens along the Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and Qatar routes. Earlier, it was reported that the Taliban prevented at least 70 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, which included Sikh members of parliament. According to the media reports, the Taliban said that they were Afghan nationals and the flight was meant for Indians.

India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul

According to ANI, India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul to evacuate its nationals stranded in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting in which he directed the officials to evacuate the stranded Indian citizens from Afghanistan. The Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul on Sunday. The terrorist group is now everywhere in the capital, walking the streets of Kabul with ease with American weapons in hand. Throughout, the Taliban's influence on the city is becoming visible, with men proactively painting over images of uncovered women outside of several beauty salons.

(Image Credit: MEA Twitter/PTI)