Govt offers emergency visa to deported woman Afghanistan MP Rangina Kargar: Report

The government has described the deportation of Rangina Kargar, a woman MP from Afghanistan, as ‘an inadvertent error’, according to a report in The Indian Express. The government has now reached out to Rangina Kargar, member of the Wolesi Jirga representing the Faryab province, to ask her to apply for an emergency visa.

Earlier, news agency ANI had quoted government officials as saying that Kargar was deported because she had failed to show any documents of her medical treatment in India and also she failed to provide any reference from the Afghanistan Embassy.

MP Rangina Kargar was deported from the Indira Gandhi International Airport on August 20, as evacuees were brought from Kabul amid the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. She was not allowed to move outside the airport after she failed to provide visa documents.

According to a senior government official, Kargar had arrived at IGI Airport on a Dubai flight and held a diplomatic passport which facilitates visa-free travel under a reciprocal arrangement with India for 30 days.

However, after the turmoil in Afghanistan, all kinds of visas had been cancelled with the exception of e-visas, which are the only ones allowed.

“An immigration officer asked Kargar to provide details of the medical treatment or the hospital she was going to visit or the details of the doctor she was going to consult, but she failed to provide any details to substantiate her purpose of arrival. She couldn’t even provide any reference from the Afghanistan Embassy. She was never deported but was not allowed to leave the airport and she went back on the same flight on which she arrived,” said the official.