Sikh bodies working on relief efforts for Afghan nationals arriving in India after Taliban takeover

New Delhi, August 23

Sikh humanitarian organisations in the Delhi-NCR have started working on relief efforts to help out Afghan nationals who have fled their country to arrive in India, following Afghanistan’s takeover by the Taliban.

From arranging accommodations to making education provisions for the children of those who have come seeking aid, organisations like the Hemkunt Foundation, Khalsa Aid International, and the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) have stepped up to lend a helping hand.

“Whatsoever effort is required to rehabilitate the Afghans coming to India, we will do that hellip; whether it is accommodation or any other kind of financial aid,” DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa told PTI.

He said the committee’s guest houses across Delhi would be available to all Afghans who were compelled to leave their own country, beginning Monday night.

“People will start coming in from today, and arrangements have been made for them to stay at the Bangla Sahib gurdwara,” Sirsa said.

Afghanistan has been in a state of panic ever since its former President Ashraf Ghani abdicated his chair earlier this month, leaving large parts of the country to be taken over by the Islamist militant group.

What ensued was chaos across several Afghan cities, with thousands of Afghan citizens flooding the Kabul airport in the hope of leaving their homeland for a safer place.

India has been evacuating people from Kabul over the last one week. On Sunday, 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown in from Kabul to the Hindon airbase near Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force.

Pre-empting the need for rehabilitating Afghans arriving in India in wake of the current circumstances in their country, the Hemkunt Foundation has recreated their tent city model from the Singhu border, one of the biggest protest sites of the ongoing farmers agitation, in Gurgaon.

The facility has a capacity to house 500 individuals and will be functional from Tuesday afternoon, said Harteerath Singh, community development director at the Hemkunt Foundation.

“In our tent city, we will be giving food and accommodation to refugees and Afghans who are here legally only. The women will be inside a permanent structure, and the men will be inside waterproof insulated tents. We have coolers, water, food and all kinds of provisions for them to be comfortable,” Singh said.

He said that while the foundation will take in all Afghan nationals irrespective of their religion and caste, passports and visas will be checked.

“At the moment, we are hoping to reach out to those in need through word of mouth, but we will be rolling out a helpline soon so that those seeking aid can call on that number,” Singh added.

Similar efforts are being undertaken by the Khalsa Aid International which will be launching a helpline soon to make help accessible to those flying in from Afghanistan.

“While the finer details are yet to be worked out, we will be launching a helpline soon so that Afghans coming in India and in need of help can approach us.

“Provisions, including accommodation, as well as education for their children will be made available by us,” said Khalsa Aid director Amarpreet Singh. PTI