Rangina Kargar: Afghan Woman MP Deported from India

‘I was treated like a criminal’ , ‘Afghan Hindus allowed, not me,’ said young Afghan woman MP, Rangina Kargar, who was deported from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

A young woman Afghan MP was deported at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Saturday after landing early in the morning. She had travelled to Delhi from Istanbul on August 20 for medical reasons but was not allowed out of the airport even though she was not travelling to India seeking refuge.

Rangina Kargar, a member of the Wolesi Jirga where she represents the Faryab province of Afghanistan, said that she was not allowed to enter the country despite holding a diplomatic/official passport which she had used many times in the past to travel to India.

The security officials held her at Delhi airport from 6 am when her flight landed till 10 pm when they deported her to Istanbul via the same Dubai route.

“There was no food, no water. They kept me waiting even when I told them that I was a Member of Parliament. Maybe because the situation has changed. Maybe for security reasons. But I want to tell India that we will return to power in Afghanistan, what will they do then,” said the miffed MP.

“They deported me and I was treated like a criminal. I was not given my passport in Dubai. It was given back to me only in Istanbul,” she added.

Speaking of how Afghan Sikhs and Hindus have been treated as opposed to Afghan Muslims, she said, “We have historical ties, political and otherwise. Across the world, Europe and other nations have been providing asylum to Afghan people. I was not even seeking asylum but they didn’t allow me to enter India. Even if I was coming seeking refuge because of the changed situation in my country, they should have allowed me in but they didn’t even allow me for treatment.”

She added, “They accepted lawmakers like Anarkali Kaur Honaryar and Narendra Singh Khalsa but they didn’t accept me. We have never seen such actions, discrimination before. This was the first time. They have divided us. They send private planes to evacuate Afghan Hindus and Sikhs but they didn’t accept me.”

“We were 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’,” Rangina Kargar