NEW DELHI: Indian Friends of Afghanistan, a group comprising former foreign ministers, ex-diplomats and public intellectuals urged New Delhi on Wednesday to prevent the use of the Afghan crisis for communal polarisation of Indians to win elections.

In an appeal signed by former foreign ministers Natwar Singh and Yashwant Sinha, former diplomats Mani Shankar Aiyar, K. C. Singh and a clutch of well-regarded public intellectuals, the group called on India and Pakistan to use the forums of Shanghai club and Saarc to help Afghanistan become an inclusive, peaceful sovereign nation.

“We welcome the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. However, the unplanned manner of its execution created conditions of avoidable chaos,” the group said in a statement.

Standing in solidarity “with our Afghan sisters and brothers”, the group urged all countries in South Asia to come together to help stabilise Afghanistan.

“All the countries in South Asia — especially India, Pakistan and Afghanistan — should strive to make it a region of peace, harmony and collective progress.”

Appealing to the Taliban, the group said: “Afghanistan needs an inclusive government that facilitates national reconciliation after four long decades of wars and violence.

Therefore, we appeal to the Taliban (which are in near-total control of the country) and other political forces to begin an intra-Afghan peace process leading to a democratic governing establishment.”

The proposed government should work to ensure that no terrorist organisation has a sanctuary in Afghanistan and that its territory is not used for extremist activities targeting any country in the world, near or far.

The group spoke for the safety and security of every Afghan citizen regardless of their ethnicity, ideology or past political background, and pressed for guarantees for the safety and rights of women.

Ethnic minorities should be protected and their return should be facilitated if they were comepelled to leave the country.

“All members of the international community should together shoulder the responsibility of rebuilding Afghanistan’s war-damaged economy and creating livelihoods for its people,” the group said. “Multilateral regional forums such as SCO (in which both India and Pakistan are members) and SAARC (of which Afghanistan is also a member) should actively work for peace in Afghanistan and stability in South Asia and Central Asia.”

India, the group said, should continue to engage with the Taliban to achieve the objectives set out in its appeal. “We welcome the government’s first official acknowledgement of its engagement with the Taliban in Doha and the positive assurances given by the latter.”

In an implied criticism of the Indian government’s emphasis on safety of non-Muslim Afghans, the group said: “There should be no discrimination on grounds of religion in providing shelter to Afghans who have been forced to leave their country.”

India should permit temporary stay to Afghan journalists, artists and civil society leaders who are feeling threatened by the conditions in their country.

TV channels have been busy together with the ruling party in promoting religious tensions following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul. “No political party should be allowed to use the developments in Afghanistan to communally polarise Indian society for electoral gains and any such attempts should be dealt with sternly.”

Those who signed the appeal included former police chief Julio Rebeiro, senior journalist Saeed Naqvi, Gandhian activist and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey and renowned India-Pakistan peace activist Sudheendra Kulkarni.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2021