Amid the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, the home ministry on Tuesday has created a new e-visa category – the e-Emergency X-Miscellaneous visa which that will allow Afghan nationals wanting to evacuate to India, to apply online.

The new type of visa is essentially expected to benefit Hindus and Sikhs stranded in Afghanistan and staring at the prospects of victimisation and persecution by the Taliban, will have an initial validity of six months, according to sources in the government.

The development comes as around 120 Indians stranded in Afghanistan are to be brought back to India in a day or two on an Indian Air Force aircraft. Around 500 Indian officials and security staff are stuck in the war-ravaged nation as of now. Many of them are in a secure area and will be brought back soon.

Officials told TOI that the security angle has been kept in mind while creating this new visa category.

Also, since the Indian mission in Kabul is now shut, all applications for the e-Emergency X-Misc visa will be examined and processed in New Delhi, they said.

An MHA spokesperson tweeted on Tuesday that the new e-Emergency X-misc visa was “introduced to fast-track visa applications for entry into India” in view of the current situation in Afghanistan.

The government had in December 2019 passed the Citizenship Amendment Act to enable citizens of Afghanistan, apart from Pakistan and Bangladesh, to belong to six religious minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis – with a minimum six-year residency in India to apply for Indian citizenship. However, the rules under the Act are yet to be notified.

The government has also issued long-term visas to many Hindus from Afghanistan who have chosen to stay back in India for fear of religious persecution in their home country.

The rapid advances by the Taliban were followed by US President Joe Biden's announcement that all American troops, after 20 years of war, will be pulled out from Afghanistan by August 31. He said that the deployment of troops in Afghanistan for 20 years has cost the US more than $1 trillion.

Joe Biden on Monday said that he does not regret his decision.

Image source: Business today