Hours after reports of around 150 Indian citizens been kidnapped by the Taliban Saturday morning, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, President of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee clarified that around 300 Sikhs and Hindus who are in the gurudwara premises in Afghanistan are safe.
"Sikhs & Hindus of Indian origins who had taken shelter in Gurdwara Karte Parwan are totally safe. The News about kidnapping of Sikhs and Hindus in Kabul is yet unclear; but those living in Gurdwara Sahib and nearby areas are safe & constantly in touch with us", the National Spokesman of Shiromani Akali Dal said.
Indian citizens waiting outside Kabul airport for evacuation flights were taken to a nearby police station for questioning and checking of travel documents, a top government source said, amid worrying reports from local media that they had been abducted.
Earlier, some news outlets in Kabul claimed the Taliban had abducted over 150 people, including Indians. The Taliban rejected that claim; a tweet by Sharif Hassan, a Kabul-based reporter for The New York Times, quoted a spokesperson for the group.
A tweet by Network 18 Group Contributing Editor Aditya Raj Kaul however seems to suggest that things are not yet resolved, citing the Coordinator of Indian Nationals in Kabul to add that while all 150 people were safe, not all had been handed over to US and NATO forces of brought inside the airport.
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The Taliban's 'picking up' of Indian citizens comes hours after an Air Force transport aircraft managed to evacuate around 85 Indians from Kabul; the plane has landed safely in Tajikistan, sources said, adding that a second aircraft is on standby in India.