Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday reviewed thegovernment's strategy to evacuate Indian citizens in the next few days andensure safety to the Hindu and Sikh communities in Afghanistan, in a CabinetCommittee on Security (CCS) meeting.
This is the second meeting of CCS within 24 hours amidthe fast changing situation in Afghanistan.
Modi chaired the first CCS meeting on Tuesday evening anddirected the officials for speedy evacuation of Indians who are still in thewar torn country, in the next few days and also to provide all possible help to"Afghan brothers and sisters who are looking towards India forassistance."
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister AmitShah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Dr S.Jaishankar attended the meeting.
Though the details of the meeting were not shared, it waslearnt that the Prime Minister reviewed the strategies formulated by thegovernment on Tuesday to deal with the situation in Afghanistan.
He has already directed the officials to ensure thesafety of Hindus and Sikhs and also asked officials to remain in touch withtheir leaders in Kabul.
The government also intends to give them some kind ofrefugee status to these Hindus and Sikhs once they come to India and later theywill be given citizenship under the newly formulated Citizenship Amendment Act2019 in due course, the sources who were privy to these developments said.
They also said that the government has also decided thatthe visa application under the new emergency visa category of those Hindus andSikhs will be processed on priority.
The highest decision making body of the government hasalso deliberated on the issues related to the Indian assets and the severalprojects being executed by the Indian companies and public sector enterprisesin Afghanistan.
The Indian government is also keeping an eye on thepolitical development of the country in terms of foreign policy after theTaliban took full control of Afghanistan and amid the deteriorating conditions;many Afghan nationals have been fleeing from the country and many of them wantto come to India.
Apart from these Cabinet Members, National SecurityAdvisor Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary to the PM P.K. Mishra, ForeignSecretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba were alsopresent in the meeting on Wednesday.