New Delhi: On Saturday, August 21, Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala said that the Centre’s efforts to evacuate Indians, including Keralites, from war-torn Afghanistan were excellent. In a tweet, Vijayan thanked the Ministry of External Affairs and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for evacuating and repatriating Indian nationals from Afghanistan. The country has been under Taliban control since the militant group captured Kabul on August 15.
The Kerala CM tweeted tagging MEA and PMO office, ‘@MEAIndia & @PMOIndia’s effort in the evacuation and repatriation of Indian nationals including Keralites is commendable. Thank you for ensuring the safety of all Indians. Keralites requiring assistance can contact Norka roots or MEA’s 24×7 Special Afghanistan cell’.
At least 400 people were evacuated with three different flights from India on Sunday, including 329 citizens and two lawmakers, PTI reported. In an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft, around 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were transported from Kabul to Hindon airbase near Delhi. The evacuation missions were conducted by India in coordination with the US, Qatar, Tajikistan and several other friendly countries.
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One of the two Afghan lawmakers evacuated, Narender Singh Khalsa, broke down after the IAF flight landed at the Hindon airbase. Having made progress in Afghanistan for 20 years, he regretted that it had been lost. ‘I feel like crying… Everything we built in the last 20 years is gone. It’s now zero,’ he told ANI.
Indian government sources claim the country was allowed to fly two flights a day out of Kabul to evacuate its citizens stranded there. Afghanistan has become a refuge for thousands of people fleeing the Taliban since Kabul fell to the Taliban. Many countries have evacuated their citizens as well as Afghan nationals from the violent militant group.
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