New Delhi, Jul 25 (PTI) As a group of Sikh refugees arrived from Afghanistan, Delhi BJP leaders on Sunday welcomed them at the IGI airport here, the party said.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, who was present at the airport, lashed out at those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

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"Opponents of the CAA should also understand that this law is in the interest of our brothers who have been persecuted in neighbouring countries on religious grounds," he said.

The Sikhs who returned from Afghanistan included Nidan Singh, Makand Lal, Sanmeet Kaur, Balendra Singh, Charan Kaur Singh, Balvan Kaur Singh,  Gurjit Singh, Manmeet Kaur,  Mandeep Singh, Poonam Kaur and Praveen Singh, a Delhi BJP statement said.

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Puneet Singh Chandhok , secretary general of Indian World Forum, said that Nidan Singh was abducted from Paktia on Afghanistan-Pakistan border where he used to look after a local Gurudwara. Singh was rescued by the Afghan forces on the intervening night of July  17-18, he said. Sanmeet Kaur's father was killed in the attack on a Gurudwara  in Kabul in March this year. Kaur arrived with her blind mother Balvan Kaur and other family members, Chandok said.

"With the enactment of the CAA, the refugees living in India will also get the status of Indian citizens and avail the benefits of various social welfare schemes and facilities of the government," Gupta said.

Sachdeva, a Sikh community leader of Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Paktia province last month.

MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had last week said that India had been receiving requests from members of Hindu and Sikh communities in Afghanistan which have faced a spurt in attacks terrorists.

"They want to move to India, they want to settle down here, and despite the ongoing COVID situation, we are facilitating these requests," he had said at a weekly briefing.

The Indian Embassy in Kabul is providing them necessary visas to come here and once they reach here, their requests will be examined and acted upon based on existing rules and policies, Srivastava had said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)