Hardeep Singh Puri receives three copies of Guru Granth Sahib at Delhi airport
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday received three copies of Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib at the Delhi airport. An aeroplane carrying three copies of Sikh scripture and 75 people, including 46 Afghanistan Sikhs and Hindus, landed at Delhi airport from Kabul. Besides Puri, Union Minister V Muraleedharan and BJP leader RP Singh were also present at the airport.
"I want to start by thanking PM who made it possible to carry out these rescue ops to bring our brethren who are in difficult circumstances there (Afghanistan). Arrangements are also being put in place for the remaining people. We're in constant touch with them. I want to compliment the MEA, EAM S Jaishankar and MoS MEA V Muraleedharan for having implemented this," Puri said.
"Blessed to receive & pay obeisance to three holy Swaroop of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji from Kabul to Delhi a short while ago," he tweeted separately.
An Air India flight brought back the people from Dushanbe. "Joined Minister Shri @HardeepSPuri ji at Delhi Airport in receiving Swaroop of Shri Guru Granth Sahib ji arrived from Afghanistan along with evacuees," V Muraleedharan tweeted.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa, president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, said that the evacuation of these 46 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus at such a challenging time is a big relief. The committee is also coordinating with the Indian government in the evacuation mission. "US security forces escorted these people to the Kabul airport," he said.
India on Monday brought back 146 citizens on four different flights from Qatar''s capital Doha, days after they were evacuated from Afghanistan by NATO and American aircraft amid the deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country. On Sunday, it had evacuated 392 individuals from Kabul on three flights. Among them were 24 Afghan Sikhs, including two Afghan MPs -- Narinder Singh Khalsa and Anarkali Kaur Honaryar -- and their families.
India is carrying out the evacuation missions in coordination with the US and several other friendly countries.
READ MORE: Focused on completing evacuation from Afghanistan by August 31: US
READ MORE: Around 10 million children across Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance: UNICEF
