MEA thanks Afghanisthan for safe return of 11 Afghan Sikhs, Hindus

The Ministry of External affairs thanked the government of Afghanistan for their support towards the safe return of 11 people belonging to the Sikh and Hindu minority community, including Nidan Singh Sachdeva, who was kidnapped by the Taliban a month ago and was released from captivity recently.

"India has granted an appropriate visa and facilitated their travel to India," the MEA said in a statement.

"We appreciate the efforts of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in extending necessary support for the safe return of these families," the statement read.

Eleven members of the Sikh community from Afghanistan, who were granted short-term visas by the Indian Embassy in Kabul, including Nidan Singh Sachdeva, who was abducted from a gurudwara in Paktia province last month, touched down in New Delhi on Sunday morning.

The rest of the ten are families of the Afghan Sikhs who were killed in the Kabul Gurudwara terror attack earlier this year. More than 25 Afghan Sikhs and one Indian Sikh were killed on the March 25th Gurudwara terror attack in Kabul.

The group includes Salmeet Kaur who was reportedly kidnapped in Kabul but later came back. Hopes are high among the Sikh community that they will get Indian citizenship.

Speaking to news agency ANI on his return, an emotional Sachdeva, said, "I don`t know what to call Hindustan -- whether it is my mother or my father -- Hindustan is Hindustan."

The Union Ministry of External Affairs had recently announced that India has decided to facilitate the return of Afghan Hindu and Sikh community members facing security threats in Afghanistan to India.

Indian mission in Kabul is "providing them necessary visas" to come to India and once they reach here the request for citizenship will be "examined and acted upon" based on "rules and policies", he explained.

While no details have been given on the rules, India could give citizenship to these Afghan minorities under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed last year, which gives citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities from three countries --Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan with a cut of date of 31st December 2014.

The decision comes four months after an Islamic State-backed attack at a gurdwara in Kabul`s Shor Bazaar killed at least 25 members of the community.