Afghan Hindu family endlessly waits for India visa to immerse son's ashes in Ganges
Several Afghan Sikh and Hindu families that hold Afghan passports and live in various European countries are allegedly being denied Indian visas ever since the Taliban stormed back to power in 2021.
A Hindu couple had fled Afghanistan nearly three 30 years ago when the first Taliban regime in that country was ready to take control. Three decades later, the duo have found their fate linked to the religious fundamentalist group again as it has returned to power in Kabul again in the wake of the US-led west's retreat, TheIndian Express reported.
Naveen Kakkar and his wife Sheela saw the birth of their son Nishant, a special child, in Germany in 1991 after they left Afghanistan where the Taliban came to power for the first time in 1996.
Three decades later, when the Taliban have returned to power in Afghanistan (since August 15, 2021), the couple's visa applications to India to immerse the ashes of their son in the Ganges River have remained stuck "despite submitting all required documents", ostensibly because of stringent checks required after the Taliban's return to power last year, the Express report said.
Nishant passed away in February following a brain attack and his parents -- Hindus from Afghanistan who still are in possession of Afghan passports -- are waiting for a go-ahead from the Indian embassy to go to Haridwar in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand and do the needful so that their late son's soul can rest in peace.
But the Kakkars are not the only ones to face such an ordeal. Many among nearly 3,000 Afghan Sikh and Hindu families that are settled in Germany, many of whom still with Afghan passports, have not received a visa despite waiting for months as the Indian embassy has either reportedly rejected the applications without citing reason or simply by sitting over them, the Indian daily repory added.
Speaking of the situation, Jaganth Gerdezi, president of Afghan Hindu Cultural Association in Germany said a minimum of 100 visa applications of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are waiting to be cleared of of them, at least 20 are sought by families that want to visit India for immersing ashes of their near ones in the Ganges.
Why is the delay? According to Gerdezi, they have been told off the record that there was security concern for people holding Afghan passports.
"No reason for visa denial has been given to us officially,” he was quoted as saying by the Express.
India's external affairs ministry said visas are taken care of by the home ministry and a spokesperson from the latter said while there is no such policy to deny visas to those holding Afghan passport holders, the process of issuing visas is a time-taking one.
“Visas applications from Afghan nationals have been held due to security reasons since the Taliban came to power. The backlog is being cleared after due verification," the Express quoted another official from the home ministry as saying.
Speaking to The Sunday Express over phone from Frankfurt, Naveen Kakkar, who works at McDonald's, said his late son's soul deserved to find peace and appealed to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the visas are issued so that they could immerse the ashes in Haridwar.
But the problem is not restricted to only those living in Germany. According to an Afghan Sikh community leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that even Afghan Sikhs and Hindus holding Afghan passports and living in countries such as Sweden, UK, UAE, etc. are also being denied visas to India since the Taliban stormed back to power.
“Their valid visas were also declared invalid and fresh ones are not being issued despite emergencies such as deaths in family or medical treatment,” the individual was quoted as saying.
Afghan Hindus and Sikhs in Germany have been visiting India without any problem over the last few decades for purposes such as family visits, pilgrimage, or medical treatment, but the situation has suddenly worsened after the Taliban's return to power, they said.
According to them, their visas are being rejected by New Delhi “without specifying any reason”, and despite Modi’s promise to “help persecuted minorities from Pakistan and Afghanistan," the report said.
For people such as Kakkars, time is running out.
“We cannot keep the ashes here after cremation for long as per German rules,” Naveen said, adding, “We have to pay them a certain amount if ashes have to be kept beyond a year. I have only two months left to keep my son’s ashes at the local crematorium. Modi-ji said he will help Hindus and Sikhs persecuted in Islamic countries…. Then we are being denied visas? Special flights went from India to rescue Afghan Sikhs and Hindus from Kabul after the Taliban came. Why can’t we come to India to give peace to our son’s soul?”
The situation is no better for Bansi Lal Juneja, 67, and Pamila Devi, 60. The Afghan Hindu couple that live in Cologne, Germany, saw their visa getting rejected a year after application. Juneja, who has a liver ailment, wanted to receive Ayurveda treatment in India and also wanted to meet his relatives in Delhi.
Madhu Juneja, the elderly couple's daughter-in-law said the couple had never faced any issues in getting a visa for India but once the Taliban returned to power, it seemed the Indian authorities were rejecting applications of the Afghan passport-holders without conducting a background check or verifying the purpose of visit.
Nearly 500 Afghan Hindu families are registered with Asamai Temple in Frankfurt, opened by immigrants after moving to Germany, and their association -- Afghan Hindu Cultural Association -- have written several letters to Modi and the external affairs ministry to consider visas of at least those families that want to complete last rites, but no positive response has come yet, Gerdezi told the Express.
A yellow weather warning for thunderstorms has been issued by the Met Office for large parts of southern England, the Midlands, and south Wales, with the alert in effect from 09:00 to 18:00 BST on Saturday, 8 June.
According to the UK’s national weather agency, intense downpours could bring 10–15mm of rainfall in under an hour, while some areas may see as much as 30–40mm over a few hours due to successive storms. Frequent lightning, hail, and gusty winds are also expected to accompany the thunderstorms.
The Met Office has cautioned that these conditions could lead to travel disruption. Roads may be affected by surface water and spray, increasing the risk of delays for motorists. Public transport, including train services, could also face interruptions. Additionally, short-term power outages and damage to buildings from lightning strikes are possible in some locations.
This weather warning for thunderstorms comes after what was the driest spring in over a century. England recorded just 32.8mm of rain in May, making it the driest on record for more than 100 years. Now, forecasters suggest that some areas could receive more rainfall in a single day than they did during the entire month of May.
The thunderstorms are expected to subside from the west during the mid-afternoonMet Office
June has so far brought cooler, wetter, and windier conditions than usual, following a record-breaking dry period. The Met Office noted that thunderstorms are particularly difficult to predict because they are small-scale weather systems. As a result, while many areas within the warning zone are likely to experience showers, some locations may avoid the storms entirely and remain dry.
The thunderstorms are expected to subside from the west during the mid-afternoon, reducing the risk in those areas as the day progresses.
Other parts of the UK are also likely to see showers on Saturday, but these are not expected to be as severe as those in the south.
Yellow warnings are the lowest level issued by the Met Office but still indicate a risk of disruption. They are based on both the likelihood of severe weather and the potential impact it may have on people and infrastructure. Residents in affected areas are advised to stay updated and take precautions where necessary.
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India's prime minister Narendra Modi. (Photo by MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)
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The leaders agreed to remain in contact and looked forward to meeting at the G7 summit later this month, a readout from Carney's office said.
India is not a G7 member but can be invited as a guest to its annual gathering, which will be held this year in Kananaskis in the Canadian province of Alberta, from June 15 to 17.
"Glad to receive a call from Prime Minister (Carney) ... thanked him for the invitation to the G7 Summit," Modi said in a post on X.
Modi also stated in his post on Friday that India and Canada would work together "with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests."
Bilateral ties deteriorated after Canada accused India of involvement in a Sikh separatist leader's murder, and of attempting to interfere in two recent elections. Canada expelled several top Indian diplomats and consular officials in October 2024 after linking them to the murder and alleged a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.
New Delhi has denied the allegations, and expelled the same number of Canadian diplomats in response.
India is Canada's 10th largest trading partner and Canada is the biggest exporter of pulses, including lentils, to India.
Carney, who is trying to diversify trade away from the United States, said it made sense for the G7 to invite India, since it had the fifth-largest economy in the world and was at the heart of a number of supply chains.
"In addition, bilaterally, we have now agreed, importantly, to continued law enforcement dialogue, so there's been some progress on that, that recognizes issues of accountability. I extended the invitation to prime minister Modi in that context," he told reporters in Ottawa.
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