Afghanistan | Indian Passport
Urdu speaking men barge into Kabul office; take away Afghan passports with Indian visas
Kabul/New Delhi: Indian security agencies handling immigration are on red alert after several unidentified Urdu-speaking men barged into an office in Kabul issuing Indian visas on behalf of the Indian mission in Afghanistan and seized un-estimated numbers of Afghan passports with stamped Indian visas, according to media reports.
The incident happened on August 15, the day the Taliban captured Kabul and seized power in Afghanistan.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the Indian security agencies have been made aware of this seizure as there is serious concern that these Afghan passports with Indian visas can be used in the future to forge fake passports for terrorists.
So far, it is not clear who is behind the robbing of Afghan passports from the Indian visa outsourcing agency in Kabul. However, the needle of suspicion points towards Pakistan as the attackers were speaking Urdu, the report said.
The HT report also said that the Indian government is tight-lipped about the incident.
“There is a strong possibility that the Afghan passports with Indian visas could be used to forge passports for terrorists by changing the photograph on the travel document,'' said a source from Kabul, the HT report said.
The report said some shadowy groups are operating in the capital city of Afghanistan, who are raiding travel agencies and seizing passports and other travel documents.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday all Afghan nationals will henceforth only be provided e-visas to travel to India and all old visas will be considered invalid, except for those Afghans who are already in India.
"Owing to the prevailing security situation in Afghanistan and streamlining of the visa process by introduction of the e-Emergency X-Misc visa, it has been decided that all Afghan nationals henceforth must travel to India only on e-Visa," the Home Ministry said.
"Keeping in view reports that certain passports of Afghan nationals have been misplaced, all previously issued visas to all Afghan nationals, who are presently not in India, stand invalidated with immediate effect," the statement said.
The statement added that Afghan nationals wishing to travel to India will have to apply online for e-visas on the Indian government's portal for visas.
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