The union government as instructed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold an all-party meeting on the situation in Afghanistan post the takeover by the Taliban. This meeting was called suo moto by the government to keep all political parties in the know of the developments.
The meeting, which has been called and will be coordinated by Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, will see External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the chair. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal, Lok Sabha deputy leader Rajnath Singh, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal, deputy leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MoS External Affairs V Muraleedharan, Meenakshi Lekhi and Rajkumar Singh will be present in this meeting.
As per sources in the government, all the opposition parties have said that they will be attending this meeting. In some cases, the floor leaders are occupied with standing committee tours, however, in such cases these political parties will be sending a representative.
Some of the prominent leaders who are likely to be present in the meeting include Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Chowdhury from Congress, Professor Saugata Roy and Sukhendu Sekher Roy from TMC, Professor Ram Gopal Yadav from Samajwadi Party, Satish Mishra from BSP, former defence minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, CPI MP Binoy Viswam among the others.
As per government sources, the meeting will begin with a brief address by EAM Jaishankar, followed by a detailed presentation and explanation by India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla. This will be followed by a round of question and answers before the meeting ends. The meeting is expected to last anywhere between 90 to 120 mins.
Sources said the government will brief the members of Parliament (MPs) about the situation on ground right now and India’s rescue operations. The government is also likely to highlight what India’s stated position at this present moment vis-a-vis Taliban is.
The Opposition would likely want to know from the government as to how many people have been brought back so far and how many remain, and what is India’s stand regarding bringing back Afghan nationals from the violence-torn nation, sources said. The parties would also like to ask the government by when they would clarify their position regarding wether or not to acknowledge the Taliban regime.
In the the recent past, just before the beginning of the monsoon session, the Central government took a proactive stand to update political parties about developments across the border and India’s stand with regard to China. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also held a meeting with former defence ministers, including AK Antony and Sharad Pawar.
India on Tuesday brought back 78 people, including 25 of its nationals and a number of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated from Taliban-besieged Kabul to the Tajik city. The group along with three copies of the Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, was airlifted from Kabul to Dushanbe by a military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Monday.
With Tuesday’s evacuation, the number of people brought back to Delhi reached over 800 since August 16 when the first group was airlifted from Kabul, a day after the Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital city.
The Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15. Within two days of the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, India evacuated 200 people, including the Indian envoy and other staffers of its embassy in the Afghan capital. The first evacuation flight brought back over 40 people, mostly staffers at the Indian embassy on August 16.
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