India on Tuesday urged “all the parties concerned” in Afghanistan to allow unhindered access to international assistance for all those who need it.
At a special UN Human Rights Council meeting, New Delhi expressed concern about shortages of food, medical care, and shelter. India also said that the rights to free speech, education, and healthcare had been hampered because of the current situation in Afghanistan.
“As a neighbour of Afghanistan, the current situation prevailing in the country is of great concern to us,” India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Indramani Pandey said at the meeting. New Delhi also appealed to everyone in the country to maintain law and order.
In its statement, India noted that stability in Afghanistan is linked to the peace and security of the region.
“We hope that the situation in Afghanistan does not pose a challenge to its neighbours, and its territory is not used by terrorist groups such as LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] and JeM [Jaish-e-Mohammad], to threaten any other country,” Pandey said.
The permanent representative to the UN also said that India hoped for an “inclusive and broad-based dispensation” that represents all sections of the society. “Voices of Afghan women, aspirations of Afghan children and the rights of minorities must be respected,” he said.
The statement also noted India’s contribution to the development in Afghanistan, including those related to water supply, roads, healthcare, education, and agriculture.
India’s assistance to Afghanistan
New Delhi has evacuated a total of over 800 people from Afghanistan till Tuesday, PTI reported.
On Tuesday, as many as 78 people who were evacuated from Kabul arrived in India via Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
In the aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, India evacuated all its embassy staff members from Kabul on August 17.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he “had a detailed and useful exchange of views” with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the situation in Afghanistan. The two leaders also discussed bilateral issues, including co-operation between India and Russia against Covid-19.
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