Here’s why Afghan MP Rangina Kargar was ‘expelled’ from India

According to government officials, a woman member of the Afghan parliament who claimed she was deported from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on August 20 failed to show any documentation of her medical treatment in India or any reference from the Afghanistan Embassy.

Rangina Kargar, a member of Afghanistan’s Wolesi Jirga (House of the People), who represents the Faryab province, arrived at IGI Airport on August 20. She was not permitted to leave the airport after failing to provide visa documentation.

According to a senior government official, Kargar arrived at IGI Airport on a Dubai flight and was carrying a diplomatic passport that allows him to travel visa-free for 30 days under a reciprocal agreement with India. However, due to the unrest in Afghanistan, all types of visas were cancelled, with the exception of e-visas, which are the only ones permitted.”

An immigration officer asked Kargar to provide information about the medical treatment she was going to receive, the hospital she was going to visit, or the doctor she was going to consult, but she failed to provide any information to substantiate her reason for arriving. She wasn’t even able to provide a reference from the Afghanistan Embassy. “She was never deported, but she was not allowed to leave the airport, and she returned on the same flight on which she arrived,” the official explained.

A pact was signed in January 2016 between India and Afghanistan for visa-free travel for their diplomats, which went into effect on June 20, 2016.

Another officer stated that the agreement was signed between two democratically elected governments to facilitate travel for their diplomats, but that “the current situation in Afghanistan is not the same as it was in 2016 or before Talibam took over the government.”

Back to top button

Adblock Detected

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker