Hyderabad: Congress spokesperson and Supreme Court lawyer Jaiveer Shergill has sought the government's help in evacuating around 700 Hindus and Sikhs stuck in Afghanistan in the face of the ongoing Taliban offensive in the war-torn country.
In a letter in his personal capacity to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Shergill requested the government to issue special visas to these Hindus and Sikhs as the Taliban offensive escalated following the withdrawal of US troops.
"The current catastrophic trajectory of violence has caused a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, thus, risking the lives of the people, including from India," he wrote in the letter. "In this regard, I would like to draw your kind attention that, as per information available in public domain, around 650 Sikhs and 50 Hindus are stuck in Afghanistan and have become sitting targets for the Taliban adamant to kill minorities belonging to Indian origin."
In this connection, Shergill mentioned the recent incident of the Taliban removing the Sikh religious flag Nishan Sahib from a gurdwara at Chamkani in Afghanistan's Paktia province, the killing of 25 Sikhs during an attack on Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in Kabul in March last year, and the suicide attack on a vehicle in Jalalabad in Nangarhar province on July 1, 2018, that claimed the lives of 19 Sikhs and Hindus.
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Stating that Afghanistan is no longer a safe country for Hindus and Sikhs of Indian origin, he requested the government to issue special visas to these 700 Hindus and Sikhs stuck in Afghanistan and evacuate them immediately as was done in 2020.
"I also request that since these people have lost their livelihood, the Government of India may also provide them economic security," Shergill wrote and urged the External Affairs Minister to take "immediate action" in this regard.
