New Delhi: Minister of Union Hardeep Singh Puri and V Muraleedharan on Tuesday received three copies of the Holy Sikh Teacher Granth Sahib and 44 Afghanistan Sikh who reached India from Kabul through Dushanbe in Tajikistan.
Three copies of Teacher Granth Sahib will be taken to the Arjan Dev Ji Gurdwara teacher in New Mahavir Nagar here, according to people coordinating evacuating efforts with the Indian government.
“Sikh Afghanistan will stay at a hotel in Karol Bagh until further arrangements made,” said Kanv Bhalla, an entrepreneur who coordinated rehabilitation on the name of the New York-based philanthropic Mandeep Singh Sobti.
Sobti and Paramjeet Singh Anand through the SOBTI Foundation they have rehabilitated Afghans who are depressed in coordination with and under the guidance of the Indian government, he said.
Puri, Muraleedharan, government officials and BJP leaders reached Indira Gandhi International Airport here in the morning to welcome citizens of Afghanistan.
“Today, I got the privilege to serve three ‘Swaroop’ Teacher Granth Sahib Ji who arrived in Delhi from Kabul,” Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Tweeted in Hindi.
He also shared a video that showed him to carry a copy of the Bible.
On Monday, 78 people, including 44 Afghanistan Sikh, was flown to Dushanbe from Kabul on the Indian Air Force aircraft (IAF).
They arrived at Delhi with Air India flights at around 9:50 a.m.
(Tuesday), said Puneet Singh Chandhok, President of the Indian World Forum, an organization that coordinated evacuation efforts with the Ministry of External Affairs and IAF.
Three copies of Teacher Granth Sahib will be taken to the Arjan Dev Ji Gurdwara teacher in New Mahavir Nagar, Chandhok said.
Nearly 200 more Sikh and Hindu Afghanistan are still stranded in Afghanistan.
These people have taken refuge in the Gurdwara Parwan Karte in Kabul, which is close to the airport, he added.
According to people who were protected in Gurdwara, driving 10 km to the international airport through various checkpoints was one of the biggest challenges in rescue efforts.
About 75 Sikh and Hindu Afghanistan will soon be evacuated, Chandhok said.
Until Monday night, India had brought around 730 people from Afghanistan as part of the evacuation mission which began on August 16, a day after Kabul fell to the Taliban.
Thousands of Afghans have gathered around Kabul airport for almost a week in a desperate effort to escape from the country with fear of the brutality of the Taliban.
India is carrying out the evacuation mission in coordination with the US and some other friendly countries.