After 9-hr Taliban detention, Ghazipur native back home
LUCKNOW: Kanhaiyalal Sharma, a mechanical fitter who hails from Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh, had never thought that he was tough enough to handle the mental trauma and anxiety caused during a 9-hour-long detention under the Taliban in Afghanistan, to which Sharma and hundreds of other stranded Indian’s were subjected to.
He finally reached India on Sunday, as part of a special repatriation operation by the Indian Air Force (AIF), bringing in 168 passengers including 107 Indians on its C-17 aircraft that touched down at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad.
“What I and the others underwent cannot be expressed in words. Just thinking about what we all went through is giving me goose-bumps. I am thankful to the Indian government that brought us back safely,” an elated Sharma, who was on the way to Mubarakpur village of Ghazipur district, said.
Sharma, who was working in a steel plant 5km from Kabul, said that though he managed to handle the trauma and anxiety, the experience has certainly left him traumatised. Sharma joined the factory recently in July. Along with him, there were 18 other Upites, who used to work together in a healthy environment. He said that there was not even the slightest apprehension of a crisis, until the Taliban returned.
“The situation had left us clueless. I and the other 18 Upites were left with no option than to lock ourselves in the factory where we stayed for more than 72 hours. But that was no solution as our factory owners told us that they can’t keep them safe for long. But, they were kind enough to transport us to the nearby Gurudwara—karte Parwan Gurudwara, 10km from
Kabul Airport.
“We were told that reaching the airport from here would be easy as compared to other locations. Hence, we were transported to the Gurudwara on August 20. We were also in touch with the embassy staff who told us to reach the airport’s north gate,” said Sharma.
On August 20 itself, the kind Gurudwara management transported Sharma and the other Indians in five buses to the North Gate of the airport. “We thanked the Gurudwara people for their kindness and thought that it was the end of our struggle. But we were mistaken as it was then that the real struggle began,” he said.
Sharma said they were greeted by mayhem at the airport — people running in panic, making futile attempts to enter the airport, while Taliban fighters were firing in the air and sometimes at the panicking crowd. “We were stopped by Taliban fighters 200 metres from the Gate since there was already a huge crowd at the gate. We were surrounded by the fighters and they pointed their guns at us. They said we can’t go further and gave us an option to return but we chose to stay,” recollects Sharma.
Sharma said they waited for more than 12 hours at the North Gate of the airport. Following the prolonged waiting hours, he said that they were approached by two Taliban fighters who diverted the buses to an abandoned canteen that was recently captured by Taliban. “We thought it was the end of our journey. There were around 250 Indians there, who started crying, some started begging for life and some, like me, suffered panic attacks. But I tried to stay calm,” he said.
He said that though the Taliban kept saying ‘you are safe’ but it was tough for the Indians to believe them.
Meanwhile, some of the detainees tweeted to the Indian government about the situation. I think it was after the intervention of the Indian government, they allowed us to go back to the airport,” he said.
The five buses again moved to the airport but following some confusion, the buses were brought back again on the canteen premises.
However, after a series of tweets to the Indian government, they were eventually guided to the airport. At the airport, which he said is still under the control of the US Army, they were allowed to enter the airport from where they boarded IAF’S C-17 aircraft. “It was an emotional moment when we all eventually boarded the aircraft and all shouted in unison—bharat mata ki jai and we all broke into tears,” said an emotion-choked Sharma.
Sharma reached his village Mubarakpur, Ghazipur, safely on Monday, where he received a warm welcome. Sharma said he has dropped all plans to move abroad and will stay in the village along with his family until he heals from the trauma.