The Evening Wrap: India airlifts 392 from Kabul

India on Sunday airlifted 392 individuals from Kabul in an operation that covered Indian citizens as well as Afghan nationals, including Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan. The people airlifted were flown in three aircraft that included a heavy-lift C17. Air India and Indigo operated two flights via Tajikistan and Qatar, completing the airlift operation that is expected to continue over the coming days. Apart from workers and engineers employed at various India-backed projects, Sunday’s evacuation also included an infant Iknoor Singh, the youngest person to be evacuated so far from Kabul. A number of Indians from Darjeeling who were stuck in Afghanistan were also among those airlifted on Sunday. West Bengal Chief Mamata Banerjee had earlier urged the central government to help in bringing back those workers. The Hindu has learnt that the largescale evacuation carried out on Sunday was facilitated by a small multi-agency Indian team that has found base in Kabul airport. The cell has taken charge days after Government of India evacuated the India-based staff from the embassy in Kabul. Initial reports suggested that the team consists of seven officials drawn from different sections of the government and are led by Indian diplomats in the US-controlled airport. Among those evacuated was Narender Pal Singh Khalsa, a member of Afghanistan’s Parliament who maintained that the Taliban have been undependable since they took over Kabul. “They came to my office on Saturday and took away my computers, official vehicles and other personal vehicles. They claimed that they were there to take away my official car that was given to me because of my status as an MP but ultimately took away many personal items, including three watches,” said Khalsa, who maintains that there are a large number of Pakistanis among the fighters. “I found that those who came to my house could not speak Farsi and spoke in Urdu. There were some who spoke a language that I could not even understand. It’s quite clear that they were either from Pakistan or some other country,” said Khalsa, who said that he had not seen the Afghan Taliban among those who were present in Kabul, saying, “In my 36 years, I have never seen such Taliban fighters.” Khalsa is the son of Avtar Singh Khalsa, a dynamic Sikh politician of Afghanistan who was assassinated in Jalalabad in a suicide bomb attack in 2018. Apart from Singh, Dr Anarkali Kaur Honaryar, the only female Sikh MP of Afghanistan, was also among those who were airlifted to Hindon air base. Hundreds of others, however, are left behind, and they need to be airlifted in the coming days even as the security situation in Afghanistan is expected to deteriorate fast because of the growing military tension between the Taliban leaders and the Tajiks of Panjshir Valley led by the faction of Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh. A spokesperson for the Resistance on Sunday told The Hindu that they require support of “allies” to take on the Taliban. “Taliban are trying to send delegations and also use Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Hamid Karzai to mediate with the Resistance Leaders in Panjshir. The stance of the Resistance is clear. We have a legitimate Caretaker President Amrullah Saleh who enjoys people’s support from Republic’s side,” said Homayon Ahmadi, their spokesperson. Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, who was appointed by the government of President Ashraf Ghani also on Sunday called for international support and said the suffering of Afghanistan is “man-made”. In a message posted on social media, Ambassador Farid Mamundzay said, “The avoidable suffering of Afghanistan is man-made and at a scale beyond all civilised contemplation. Afghanistan is going through a difficult time, and only good leadership, compassionate attitude and international support to the Afghan people would somewhat bring an end to these miseries.” I-T portal glitch: Finance Ministry summons Infosys CEO Salil Parekh The Finance Ministry has summoned Infosys MD and CEO Salil Parekh on August 23 to explain to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman “why even after 2.5 months since the launch of new e-filing portal, glitches in the portal have not been resolved”. The Income Tax department has said that “in fact, since 21/08/2021 the portal itself is not available”. On August 16, the Finance Minister had said glitches on the new Income Tax portal were expected to be fixed entirely in the next 2 to 3 days. “I have been reminding Infosys constantly… and Nandan Nilekani has been messaging me with assurances that they will sort it out,” the Minister had said. Since its launch in early June, many critical functionalities of the income tax portal have been non-starters, and the Minister had admitted that there are ‘still some issues’ with it. “Revenue Secretary [Tarun Bajaj] has been neutrally monitoring the progress on fixing the portal on a weekly basis,” Sitharaman had said, stressing that she had been pushing Infosys ‘not to let the taxpayers down’ with constant reminders. The Ministry’s latest statement on August 22 suggests the situation has got worse instead of improving, with the income tax portal becoming inaccessible since August 21. G7 to discuss Afghanistan on Tuesday, says U.K. PM Boris Johnson British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had called a G7 leaders’ meeting on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan and urged the international community to find ways to prevent it from escalating. Taliban militants seized control of Kabul last weekend in an upheaval that sent civilians and Afghan military allies fleeing for safety. Many fear a return to the austere interpretation of Islamic law imposed during the previous Taliban rule that ended 20 years ago. Western governments are discussing how to handle the situation in Kabul where thousands of civilians desperate to flee Afghanistan have descended on the airport after the Taliban seized control of the country. “It is vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people to secure the gains of the last 20 years,” Johnson said on Twitter on Sunday. Britain currently holds the rotating leadership of the G7, which also includes the United States, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and Canada. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,24,28,249 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,34,430. In Brief Union Minister Raosaheb Danve on Sunday said that the Railways has suffered losses to the tune of ₹36,000 crore during the coronavirus pandemic, and added that goods trains were the real revenue generators for the national transporter.The Minister of State for Railways was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of an underbridge. “The passenger train segment always runs into losses. Since increasing the ticket fares affects the passengers, we cannot do so. During the pandemic, the Railways suffered losses of ₹36,000 crore,” he said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 22 AUGUST 2021 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( India airlifts 392 from Afghanistan amidst reports of Pakistani presence among Taliban India on Sunday [airlifted 392 individuals from Kabul]( in an operation that covered Indian citizens as well as Afghan nationals, including Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan. The people airlifted were flown in three aircraft that included a heavy-lift C17. Air India and Indigo operated two flights via Tajikistan and Qatar, completing the airlift operation that is expected to continue over the coming days. Apart from workers and engineers employed at various India-backed projects, Sunday’s evacuation also included an infant Iknoor Singh, the youngest person to be evacuated so far from Kabul. A number of Indians from Darjeeling who were stuck in Afghanistan were also among those airlifted on Sunday. West Bengal Chief Mamata Banerjee had earlier urged the central government to help in bringing back those workers.  The Hindu has learnt that the largescale evacuation carried out on Sunday was facilitated by a small multi-agency Indian team that has found base in Kabul airport. The cell has taken charge days after Government of India evacuated the India-based staff from the embassy in Kabul. Initial reports suggested that the team consists of seven officials drawn from different sections of the government and are led by Indian diplomats in the US-controlled airport.  Among those evacuated was Narender Pal Singh Khalsa, a member of Afghanistan’s Parliament who maintained that the Taliban have been undependable since they took over Kabul.    “They came to my office on Saturday and took away my computers, official vehicles and other personal vehicles. They claimed that they were there to take away my official car that was given to me because of my status as an MP but ultimately took away many personal items, including three watches,” said Khalsa, who maintains that there are a large number of Pakistanis among the fighters. [Indian and Afghan nationals arriving from Kabul at the Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad on August 22, 2021. ]   “I found that those who came to my house could not speak Farsi and spoke in Urdu. There were some who spoke a language that I could not even understand. It’s quite clear that they were either from Pakistan or some other country,” said Khalsa, who said that he had not seen the Afghan Taliban among those who were present in Kabul, saying, “In my 36 years, I have never seen such Taliban fighters.”   Khalsa is the son of Avtar Singh Khalsa, a dynamic Sikh politician of Afghanistan who was assassinated in Jalalabad in a suicide bomb attack in 2018. Apart from Singh, Dr Anarkali Kaur Honaryar, the only female Sikh MP of Afghanistan, was also among those who were airlifted to Hindon air base.  Hundreds of others, however, are left behind, and they need to be airlifted in the coming days even as the security situation in Afghanistan is expected to deteriorate fast because of the growing military tension between the Taliban leaders and the Tajiks of Panjshir Valley led by the faction of Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh. A spokesperson for the Resistance on Sunday told The Hindu that they require support of “allies” to take on the Taliban. “Taliban are trying to send delegations and also use Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Hamid Karzai to mediate with the Resistance Leaders in Panjshir. The stance of the Resistance is clear. We have a legitimate Caretaker President Amrullah Saleh who enjoys people’s support from Republic’s side,” said Homayon Ahmadi, their spokesperson.  Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, who was appointed by the government of President Ashraf Ghani also on Sunday called for international support and said the suffering of Afghanistan is “man-made”. In a message posted on social media, Ambassador Farid Mamundzay said, “The avoidable suffering of Afghanistan is man-made and at a scale beyond all civilised contemplation. Afghanistan is going through a difficult time, and only good leadership, compassionate attitude and international support to the Afghan people would somewhat bring an end to these miseries.”  [underlineimg] I-T portal glitch: Finance Ministry summons Infosys CEO Salil Parekh The Finance Ministry has [summoned Infosys MD and CEO Salil Parekh]( on August 23 to explain to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman “why even after 2.5 months since the launch of new e-filing portal, glitches in the portal have not been resolved”. The Income Tax department has said that “in fact, since 21/08/2021 the portal itself is not available”. On August 16, the Finance Minister had said glitches on the new Income Tax portal were expected to be fixed entirely in the next 2 to 3 days. “I have been reminding Infosys constantly… and Nandan Nilekani has been messaging me with assurances that they will sort it out,” the Minister had said. Since its launch in early June, many critical functionalities of the income tax portal have been non-starters, and the Minister had admitted that there are ‘still some issues’ with it. “Revenue Secretary [Tarun Bajaj] has been neutrally monitoring the progress on fixing the portal on a weekly basis,” Sitharaman had said, stressing that she had been pushing Infosys ‘not to let the taxpayers down’ with constant reminders. The Ministry’s latest statement on August 22 suggests the situation has got worse instead of improving, with the income tax portal becoming inaccessible since August 21. [underlineimg] G7 to discuss Afghanistan on Tuesday, says U.K. PM Boris Johnson British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said [he had called a G7 leaders’ meeting on Tuesday]( to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan and urged the international community to find ways to prevent it from escalating. Taliban militants seized control of Kabul last weekend in an upheaval that sent civilians and Afghan military allies fleeing for safety. Many fear a return to the austere interpretation of Islamic law imposed during the previous Taliban rule that ended 20 years ago. Western governments are discussing how to handle the situation in Kabul where thousands of civilians desperate to flee Afghanistan have descended on the airport after the Taliban seized control of the country. “It is vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people to secure the gains of the last 20 years,” Johnson said on Twitter on Sunday. Britain currently holds the rotating leadership of the G7, which also includes the United States, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and Canada. [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 3,24,28,249 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,34,430. [Covid 19 vaccination drive in progress at a centre at Jahangirpuri in North Delhi. File Photo]  [underlineimg] In Brief Union Minister Raosaheb Danve on Sunday said that the [Railways has suffered losses to the tune of ₹36,000 crore]( during the coronavirus pandemic, and added that goods trains were the real revenue generators for the national transporter.The Minister of State for Railways was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of an underbridge. “The passenger train segment always runs into losses. Since increasing the ticket fares affects the passengers, we cannot do so. During the pandemic, the Railways suffered losses of ₹36,000 crore,” he said. [underlineimg] Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.  Today's Top Picks [[‘China will not get drawn into serious security role in Afghanistan’] ‘China will not get drawn into serious security role in Afghanistan’]( [[News analysis | Indian Embassy evacuations: then and now] News analysis | Indian Embassy evacuations: then and now]( [[Long jumper Shaili Singh misses gold by 1cm, settles for silver in U-20 World Athletics Championships] Long jumper Shaili Singh misses gold by 1cm, settles for silver in U-20 World Athletics Championships]( [[Petrol, diesel prices cut by 20 paise] Petrol, diesel prices cut by 20 paise]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](