Afghan-origin Indian businessman abducted; GOI rescue efforts on

New Delhi, Sep 16 (UNI) India is in touch with all concerned regarding an Afghan-origin Indian national who was abducted at gunpoint from near his shop in Kabul two days ago, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, to a question on the incident, said: “This is an important topic. We have seen the missing person reports; Bansari Lal Arendeh, that he is missing in Kabul. We are in touch with all concerned.”
He said that they have also seen reports about authorities in Kabul undertaking investigation in this matter. “We’ll continue to monitor the situation, and keep you informed of any developments in this regard,” he added.
On Tuesday, Puneet Singh Chandhok, President Indian World Forum, said that he has been informed by the Afghan Hindu Sikh community in Kabul that an Afghan-origin Indian national, known as Bansari Lal Arendeh, aged around 50 years, was abducted on Monday at around 8 a.m. from the vicinity of his shop in Kabul.
Bansari Lal, a resident of Khost, was currently living in Karte Parwan, district -4 of Kabul. He is into the business of pharmaceutical products and was going to the shop when he was abducted. His car was hit from behind and after that he was abducted at gunpoint and driven away in a green-coloured Toyota Corolla, Chandhok said.
The incident took place in the 11th Police district of Kabul. Bansari Lal’s family lives in Delhi.
Chandhok said he has informed the Ministry of External Affairs regarding the matter and requested for their immediate intervention and assistance in this regard.
The MEA spokesperson, asked whether the abducted person is an Indian citizen, said: “We are given to understand that he is an Indian citizen. The name that was given was Bansari Lal Arendeh, and that is possibly an Indian citizen.”
To a similar question, he said: “I don’t have any further details to share at this point. We are told that he is an Indian national. We’ve also seen reports that he is an OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) card holder, but I don’t think that is correct.”
Asked how the government was going to coordinate the matter in this regard, the spokesperson declined to elaborate, saying that it is a “sensitive matter”.
“It is a sensitive matter, and I don’t want to speak any further on this, but will repeat that – we are in touch with all concerned, and we are closely monitoring the situation and we will share any information that we get.”
Asked if there was any connection with the Taliban which is ruling Afghanistan, with regard to the safety of Indian nationals there, he said that in the Devi Shakti operation to evacuate Indians from Kabul “majority of Indians were evacuated”.
“During Devi Shakti the majority of Indians were evacuated, some are still there. We are in contact with them, with those who wanted to come but could not come due to the Kabul operations being shut.”
He said that India has raised the issue of safety a lot of times with the international community.
Referring to the UN Security Council resolution 2593 on Afghanistan, adopted on August 30 during India’s presidency, he said that the resolution also refers to the minorities and Afghans “so that they can leave Kabul without any impediment and that they remain safe; these are the issues, but specifically in this case or any other case, we cannot say.”