'Treated Like a Criminal’: Afghan MP Rangina Kargar Deported From Delhi Airport

Rangina Kargar said that she has travelled several times to India in the past using the same passport.

File image of Afghan parliamentarian Rangina Kargar.

(Photo: Facebook/Rangina Kargar)

Rangina Kargar, a woman member of the Afghan parliament has alleged that she was deported from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi on 20 August, The Indian Express reported.

The Taliban had taken control of Afghanistan just a few days ago, with Kabul falling to the insurgent group, as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Kargar is a member of Wolesi Jirga. A parliamentarian since 2010, she represents the Faryab province in the country. Kargar, who holds a diplomatic or official passport, said she arrived at the IGI early on 20 August from Istanbul on a Fly Dubai flight.

What Had Happened?

Kargar told The Indian Express that in the past she had travelled several times to India using the same passport. However, this time, the immigration officials, she said, had asked her to wait as they had to consult with higher officials.

Two hours after she landed, Kargar was sent back to Istanbul through the same airline via Dubai.

"They deported me, I was treated as a criminal. I was not given my passport in Dubai. It was given back to me only in Istanbul."

Kargar said, as quoted by The Indian Express

"It was not good what they did to me. The situation has changed in Kabul and I hope the Indian government helps Afghan women," she added, as quoted by The Indian Express.

Kargar reportedly said that she was not given any reason for the deportation, but added that it must be because of the changing situation in Kabul and due to security reasons.

'Never Expected this from Gandhiji's India'

Expressing her disappointment over the way she was deported at the airport, Kargar also told The Indian Express that she "never expected this from Gandhiji's India."

"We are always friends with India, we have strategic relations with India, we have historic relations with India. But in this situation, they have treated a woman and a member of Parliament like this. They told me at the airport, ‘sorry, we cannot do anything for you’," Kargar was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

'Made a Mistake, Matter Will be Looked Into'

Following an all-party briefing headed by External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the situation in Afghanistan, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge addressed Kargar's issue and said that the government made a mistake and the matter will be looked into.

"We raised the issue of a female (Afghan) diplomat who was deported. They said that they made a mistake, it won't be repeated and they will look into the matter," he stated.

Background

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on 15 August, the situation in the country has been very tense.

Chaotic scenes have emerged from the Kabul airport, with countries scrambling to evacuate their citizens and the locals who worked with them, while several Afghans have made desperate attempts to flee the country.

On 17 August, India introduced a new category of electronic visa, called "e-Emergency X-Misc Visa," to speed up the applications requesting entry into India from Afghanistan.

On the same day, India arranged two Indian Air Force aircrafts to evacuate over 120 Indian officials from Kabul. On 25 August, the country made e-Visas mandatory for all Afghans travelling to the country.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)