Month: August 2021

An Indian Air Force (IAF) special flight, carrying stranded Indian nationals and 46 Afghan Hindus and Sikhs, is expected to take off from Kabul Airport on Monday.

Indian World Forum President Puneet Singh Chandhok said international forces have escorted the evacuees to the Indian Air Force aircraft. According to him, three Sri Guru Granth Sahib is also on their way from Afghanistan.
“I can confirm that the stranded Indian Nationals and 46 Afghan Hindus and Sikhs with three Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (holy book) are currently inside the Kabul Airport and are being escorted by International forces to the Indian Air Force aircraft on the ground,” Chandhok said.

Countries including India have been urgently evacuating their citizens from the war-torn nation. The evacuation is being carried out in the wake of the collapse of the Afghan government and its take over by the Taliban.

The Kabul airport is witnessing nowadays heavy chaos as thousands of Afghans in an attempt to flee the Taliban have flocked to the airport.

India on Sunday brought back nearly 400 people on three different flights. Another group of 87 Indians and two Nepalese nationals were brought back in a special Air India flight from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated to the Tajikistan capital in an IAF aircraft.

Separately, 135 Indians evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days by the US and NATO aircraft were flown back to Delhi on a special flight.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that the Indian government is committed to the safe return of all Indian nationals from Afghanistan.

The MEA said the main challenge for travel to and from Afghanistan is the operational status of the Kabul airport.

India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul to evacuate its nationals stranded in Afghanistan, government sources told ANI.

The permission was granted by American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces, which have been controlling operations of the Hamid Karzai International Airport after the Afghan capital fell to the Taliban on August 15. (ANI)

The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the delegation of 10 parties led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to discuss a caste-based census is underway in Delhi.

Besides Bihar Chief Minister, other members of the delegation include RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary, who is also the minister for education and parliamentary affairs, former Chief Minister and President of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) Jitan Ram Manjhi, Congress legislature party leader Ajeet Sharma and BJP leader and Bihar minister Janak Ram, CPI-ML legislature party leader Mahboob Alam, Akhtarul Imam of AIMIM, Mukesh Sahni of VIP, Suryakant Paswan of CPI and Ajay Kumar of CPI(M).
Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), which is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar, is in favour of a caste-based census. He has been advocating for a caste-based census in the country and had thus sought an appointment with the Prime Minister.

Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly Tejashwi Yadav also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the demand for a caste-based census.

Nitish Kumar had said a resolution regarding the caste-based census was passed unanimously in Bihar Legislative Assembly as well as the Legislative Council in 2019. A resolution was passed unanimously once again in 2020 in the state Legislative Assembly.

“The demand of the caste census is not just the demand from Bihar but other states also. The Opposition parties in Bihar also wanted to meet the Prime Minister with us. We had written a letter to the Prime Minister regarding this,” Bihar chief minister had earlier said.

“We want a caste-based Census and it is our long-standing demand. A caste-based Census will help all castes to get their exact numbers so that policies can be made accordingly. Caste census is in the interest of all. It is for the benefit of the country. It is the job of the central government to take a decision regarding the caste census. It is not a political issue but a social one,” Nitish Kumar had said.

Kumar, meanwhile, stated that if Centre does not agree then “Bihar will proceed to conduct a caste-based census.”

However, the Central government has so far refused to accede to the demand.

On July 20, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had said: “The Government of India has decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise populations other than SCs and STs in the census.”

On March 10, 2021, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had clarified on caste-related details received from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. In a reply, the Union Home Ministry said that raw caste data has been provided to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) for the classification and categorisation of the data.

“The Office of the Registrar General, India had provided logistics and technical support in conducting the SECC-2011. The raw caste data has been provided to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) for the classification and categorization of the data. As informed by MoSJE, there is no proposal to release the caste data at this stage,” the Home Ministry had said. (ANI)

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday launched COVID-19 Affected Livelihood Support Scheme to provide assistance to those who had been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the State.

The scheme was launched by Singh at a function held at Imphal yesterday.
Addressing the function, the Chief Minister stated that the applications were invited for the scheme through a proper survey at the district levels and added that a total of 22,336 applications had been received so far.

Out of the applications received, 7,943 had been verified, and of this first installment of Rs 2500 would be distributed to 6,276 applicants today bearing a total amount of around Rs 1.56 crore.

He stated that the second installment for the same would be disbursed within September this year.

He further said that around 6,000 applicants had been identified for Start-Up Scheme, which was put on hold for some period due to the pandemic, for which interviews were going on.

He added that the loan amount under the scheme would also be disbursed very soon. He also informed that Meeyamgi Numit and Hill Leaders’ Day would be revived soon considering the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. (ANI)

Taliban is seeking legitimacy and have made promises but Washington will see whether “they mean or not”, said US President Joe Biden, adding that “I don’t trust anybody” when asked whether he believes the Taliban or not.

During his address to the nation from White House, Biden said if the Taliban is going to attempt to provide for the people of Afghanistan, they would need additional help in terms of economic assistance, trade and a whole range of things.
“I don’t trust anybody. Taliban has to make a fundamental decision. Is the Taliban going to attempt to be able to unite and provide for well being of the people of Afghanistan, which no one group has ever done for 100 years? If it does, it would need additional help in terms of economic assistance, trade and a whole range of things,” he said when asked whether he trusts the Taliban now.

“Taliban has said and we will see whether they mean or not. They are seeking legitimacy to determine whether or not they would be recognised by other countries. They have told other countries as well as us that they do not want us to move our diplomatic presence completely. All this talk now, so far Taliban has not taken actions against US forces,” he added.

His remarks come as countries continue to evacuate their citizens from Afghanistan through the Kabul airport, which is under US forces’ control.

The evacuations are being carried out as the security situation has deteriorated in Afghanistan following the takeover by the Taliban and the collapse of Ashraf Ghani’s government.

US military has pulled around 25,100 individuals from Afghanistan since August 14, and approximately 30,000 since the end of July.

Biden said he is in discussions with his military officials regarding the extension of the evacuation mission in Afghanistan, beyond the August 31 deadline.

Biden informed that the US has extended the safe zone around the Kabul airport. “We have made a number of changes, including extending the access around the airport and the safe zone,” he said.

Earlier on Friday, Biden had termed the evacuation from Afghanistan the ‘most difficult and largest airlift’ ever in the history. He had assured to get all Americans and allies out of the war-torn country. “Kabul evacuation is among the largest and most difficult airlifts in history,” Biden had said. (ANI)

Taking a strong exception to the recent statements of Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu’s two advisors on sensitive national issues like Kashmir and Pakistan, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday slammed them for making such “atrocious and ill-conceived” comments that were “potentially dangerous” to the peace and stability of the state and the country.

The Chief Minister urged Sidhu’s advisors – Dr Pyare Lal Garg and Malwinder Singh Mali — to stick to giving advice to the PPCC president and not speak on matters of which they clearly had little or no knowledge, and had no understanding of the implications of their comments, read the release from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

Amarinder Singh was reacting to reported remarks of Dr Pyare Lal Garg questioning his (Captain Amarinder’s) criticism of Pakistan, as well as the earlier controversial statement of Malwinder Singh Mali on Kashmir. Both of them were recently appointed by Sidhu as his advisors.

CM Amarinder expressed shock at the “extraordinary” statements of Mali and Garg, which he said were “totally misplaced and antagonistic” to the stated position of India and the Congress on Pakistan and Kashmir. He urged the Punjab Congress president to rein in his advisors before they end up doing more damage to India’s interests.

“Kashmir was and is an inalienable part of India,” asserted the Chief Minister, adding that with his proclamation to the contrary, Mali had effectively and inexplicably toed Islamabad’s line.

“This is totally anti-national,” he said, also slamming Mali for failing to withdraw his statement despite the widespread condemnation it had evoked not only from other parties but also from within the Congress.

Ridiculing Garg’s statement that criticism of Pakistan by him (Captain Amarinder) was not in the interest of Punjab, the Chief Minister said Sidhu’s advisor was clearly disconnected from the ground reality.

“The fact, which every Punjabi and in fact every Indian knows, is that Pakistan’s threat to us is real. Every day they are pushing weapons and drugs into Punjab via drones in a brazen attempt to destabilise our state, and our nation. Punjabi soldiers are dying at the borders at the hands of Pak-backed forces,” pointed out the Chief Minister.

“Garg may have forgotten the thousands of Punjabi lives lost in the fire of Pak-backed terrorism of the 1980s and 1990s, but I have not. Nor have the people of Punjab. And we will continue to do everything in our power to fight off Pakistan’s dangerous games,” asserted CM Captain Amarinder, urging Garg not to undermine the sacrifices of Punjabis with his outrageous, irresponsible and patently politically motivated statements. (ANI)

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar arrived in the national capital on Sunday to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the caste-based census.

“We (a delegation comprising representatives of different parties) will meet PM Narendra Modi at 11 am tomorrow with our demand for a caste-based census,” Kumar told ANI.
He also said that the Bihar government is taking necessary action to tackle the flood situation in the state.

“We are taking all the necessary actions for the flood situation in Bihar,” he further said.

Notably, the delegation which will meet PM Modi also include Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav.

The Bihar Chief Minister had earlier said that a delegation of leaders from 10 parties will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday over the demand for a caste-based census.

Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar, is in favour of a caste-based census. He has been advocating for a caste-based census in the country and had thus sought an appointment with the Prime Minister.

Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly Tejashwi Yadav also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the demand for a caste-based census.

Nitish Kumar had said a resolution regarding the caste-based census was passed unanimously in Bihar Legislative Assembly as well as the Legislative Council in 2019. A resolution was passed unanimously once again in 2020 in the state Legislative Assembly. (ANI)

Indian government is committed to the safe returns of its nationals from Afghanistan, said Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia, as an Air India flight with 87 Indians evacuees from Kabul landed here on Sunday via Tajikistan.

“From Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan @airindiain The aircraft reached New Delhi carrying 87 Indians. Under the guidance of strong-willed prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian government is committed to ensuring the safe return of Indian nationals,” Scindia tweeted.

The flight ferrying 87 Indians from Afghanistan’s Kabul landed in Delhi early on Sunday. The Indians were taken to Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe from Kabul on board a transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday.

The minister also retweeted a video in which passengers being evacuated raised “Bharat Mata ki Jai” as the flight lifted off from Dushanbe airport.

India has so far evacuated around 300 people from Afghanistan including its ambassador and all other diplomats.

It has been evacuating its citizens along the Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and Qatar routes

India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul to evacuate its nationals stranded in Afghanistan, government sources told ANI.

The permission was granted by American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces which have been controlling operations of the Hamid Karzai International Airport after the Afghan capital fell to the Taliban on August 15.

People in Afghanistan have been rushing to leave the country after the Taliban seized control last week. On August 15, the country’s government fell soon after President Ashraf Ghani left the country.

The MEA has said the government is committed to the safe return of all Indian nationals from Afghanistan. The MEA said that the main challenge for travel to and from Afghanistan is the operational status of the Kabul airport. (ANI)

The Pakistan government on Sunday announced it will allow pilgrims who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur for the death anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next month.

Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) held a meeting during which they unanimously decided to allow Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur in Narowal district, next month under strict Covid-19 protocols, Dawn reported.
Dawn reported that fully vaccinated persons with certificates will be allowed to enter Pakistan provided they show real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test reports which should not be more than 72 hours old.

Apart from this, Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) will also be conducted at airports and in case of a positive result, the individual will not be allowed to enter Pakistan.

Besides, as per non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), a maximum of 300 people will be permitted to assemble at a time at the darbar.

Early this month, Pakistan has lifted travel restrictions from 11 countries including India.

Pakistan had put India under Category C from May 22 till August 12 due to the spread of the Delta variant, which meant that the movement of people, including Sikh pilgrims, from India was subjected to special permission.

On March 16, 2020, both India and Pakistan had temporarily suspended the day-long pilgrimage in wake of Covid 19 and also suspended the registration for the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage.

However, on October 2, 2020, the Pakistan government announced to unilaterally open the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage but India denied to reciprocate the gesture.

India and Pakistan signed the Kartarpur corridor agreement with Pakistan on October 24, 2019.

Under the pact, Indian pilgrims of all faiths are allowed to undertake round-the-year visa-free travel through the Kartarpur corridor to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib. (ANI)

After experiencing days of terror that gripped Afghanistan after the Taliban overtook the country, Afghans who landed in India after being evacuated have expressed their unwillingness to return to their home country.

ANI spoke to several Afghan nationals who landed at the Hindon air force base in Ghaziabad earlier today on a special Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 aircraft. Most of them expressed a reluctance to return to their home country if and when the situation normalizes.

Narrating his chilling experience with terrorists, Afghan national Sadia said that she was held by the Taliban for at least four to five hours and the group had burnt down her home.

“Situation was deteriorating in Afghanistan, so I came here with my daughter and two grandchildren. Our Indian brothers and sisters came to our rescue. They (Taliban) burnt down my house. Women are not safe in Afghanistan. I thank India for helping us,” she added.

A humanitarian crisis has been unfolding in the war-torn country. The recent regime change has forced many Afghans and citizens of other countries to flee the country, fearing an oppressive Taliban rule.

Afghan national said, “We are feeling much relieved now. The situation is Afghanistan is deteriorating day by day. There is immense fear among people. We have witnessed casual firing over crowds.”

According to reports, tens of thousands of people have been flocking to the Kabul airport desperate to flee the country that has been overtaken by the Taliban after 20 years. They fear a return to the Taliban’s brutal rule and a threat of reprisal killings.

Another Afghanistan citizen who landed here today said that the Taliban had assured them safety, however, they cannot be trusted.

“The situation is dire in Afghanistan. Firing and gunshots were heard everywhere in Kabul and in the surrounding area as well. I am very grateful to India for stepping forward to help us. We were taking shelter at the Gurudwara before boarding the plane,” a Sikh evacuee told ANI.

In today’s evacuation, the Indian government also brought back an Afghan-based Sikh family in the aircraft with an infant without a passport.

Joyous families were seen celebrating their safe evacuation to India as relief came amid chaos in Afghanistan.

India on Sunday evacuated about 300 people from Kabul after the Taliban seized control of most parts of Afghanistan. The terror group overtook the power throne on August 15 as the Aghanistan government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. (ANI)