Why Citizenship Amendment Act Is ‘Necessary’: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Points To Afghanistan Crisis

CAA provides citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

File Photo

New Delhi: As India continues to evacuate its nationals stranded in Afghanistan post the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday cited the evacuations from the war-torn nation to back the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.

“Recent developments in our volatile neighbourhood & the way Sikhs & Hindus are going through a harrowing time are precisely why it was necessary to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act,” he tweeted.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed in December 2019, provides citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they fled due to religious persecution and entered India before 2015.

READ: Kabul Evacuation: India Brings Back 392 People Including 2 Afghan Lawmakers, Evacuees Thank Govt

Amid escalating tensions in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, India on Sunday brought back 392 people, including two Afghan lawmakers, in three different flights as part of the mission to evacuate its nationals and the Afghan partners from Kabul.

A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to the Hindon airbase near Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the IAF.

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 130J transport aircraft.

The officials added that 135 Indians, who were earlier evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days by the US and NATO aircraft, were flown back from the Qatari capital city to Delhi on a special flight, PTI reported.

Around 590 people have been evacuated by India from Kabul since last Monday.