Members of Afghan Sikh-Hindu delegation thank PM Modi for CAA, call for citizenship under ‘one window’

Feb 19,2022

Members of the Afghan Sikh-Hindu delegation who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday told him about their circumstances in Kabul and thanked the government for Citizenship Amendment Act.

They called for the government providing citizenship “under one window”.

A member of the Afghan Sikh-Hindu delegation later said that he “was kidnapped” by Taliban from a gurdwara as “they thought he was an Indian spy”.

“I was kidnapped by the Taliban from a gurudwara. They thought of us as Indian spies. They gave me hard time,” Nidan Singh Sachdeva told ANI.

He came from Kabul last year after the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all the help provided by the Indian government in bringing them to India, he urged the centre to provide “nationality and shelter” in India.

Another member from the delegation, Tarendra Singh who came to India in 1989 said they requested that “citizenship” should be provided under one window.

“We briefed PM Modi about our circumstances in Kabul. Our main problem was naturalisation, we wandered around for our citizenship. So we thanked PM Modi for bringing CAA and would like citizenship under one window,” he said.

The Prime Minister met members of the Sikh-Hindu delegation from Afghanistan at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg and assured the community of continuous support in future to resolve all issues and difficulties.

Members of the delegation thanked the Prime Minister for standing up for them in times of distress. They said that they had tears in their eyes when they heard him talking about making special arrangements to bring back Swaroop of Guru Granth Sahib from Afghanistan to India with proper reverence.

“They said that he is not just the Prime Minister of India, but the Prime Minister of the world since he understands the difficulties faced especially by Hindus and Sikhs across the world and makes all-out efforts to provide immediate help in all such cases,” an official release said.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Union Minister of State Meenakshi Lekhi were also present on the occasion.