Former Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan claims that he “did not order” special operations to prioritize saving Afghans of the Sikh faith during the capture of Kabul by the Taliban in August 2021.
According to information reported Thursday by the Globe and Mail, While he was Minister of Defence, Harjit Sajjan allegedly ordered the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to rescue a group of some 225 Sikhs in Afghanistan in August 2021, to the detriment of Canadian citizens or Afghans with a connection to Canada.
At the time, Canadian troops were trying to get Canadians out of Kabul as the city fell to the Taliban, a group listed as a terrorist organization under Canadian law.
Harjit Sajjan, who is now the Minister of Civil Protection, strongly refuted the allegations in a press release, saying he had not not ordered Canadian Armed Forces to prioritize Sikhs
.
Mr. Sajjan, who was deployed to Afghanistan three times while serving in the FAC, explained that he had only relayed information about Sikhs who had taken refuge in a temple in Kabul.
I have forwarded to the chain of command all information provided by a ONG [sikhe canadienne] on the location and status of these Sikhs for it to use as it sees fit, in accordance with its operational plan on the ground in Afghanistan.
The minister further assures that he provided this ONG Canadian the same information as that transmitted by the FAC to Afghan Sikhs, or to “head to the airport.”
This group of Sikhs could not be evacuated from Afghanistan in August 2021. However, they managed to leave the country on planes chartered by other governments, including that of India, several months later.
During the evacuation of Kabul, the Government of Canada’s priority was to support Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate family members, as well as vulnerable Afghans who had assisted Canada during its military operation in the country. .
The government had also designated other groups, including Afghan religious minorities and members of the LGBTQsuch as potential evacuees.
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Thousands of refugees waited outside Kabul airport in September 2021, after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. (Archive photo)
Photo: Courtesy: David Lavery
“A logistical nightmare”
According to the Globe and Mail, The events would have happened quite differently. The daily reports that after interpreting the communications of Minister Sajjan concerning the Afghan Sikhs as an order to rescue them, the Canadian special forces would have tried to find the group in question to take them to the airport so that they could be transported to a safe place.
Anonymous military sources said they believe that the minister Sajjan had crossed the line by pressuring Canadian special forces to save Afghan Sikhs
because the operation involved careful planning and meant fewer soldiers would be available to screen people waiting for the last flights out of Kabul
.
These sources even told the newspaper that the Sikh rescue mission had been a logistical nightmare
while the military were busy processing people with Canadian passports.
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Afghans climb onto the cabin of a plane at Kabul airport on August 16, 2021. (File photo)
Photo : Getty Images / WAKIL KOHSAR
Prejudices, according to Minister Sajjan
If I wasn’t wearing a turban, no one would have asked me if my actions were appropriate.
At a news conference in British Columbia, Mr. Sajjan said Thursday that the article Globe and Mail est the pure stupidity
. He also suggested that his actions were interpreted this way because he is Sikh.
This interpretation was echoed by the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO), which stated that in addition to being unfounded
THE allegations
of the daily seemed influenced by prejudice against Sikh identity
of Minister Sajjan.
The organization recalled that the information transmitted by Minister Sajjan was legitimate since 25 Canadian MPs, including Conservative, New Democrat and Green members, wrote to the Minister of Immigration at the time, Marco Mendicino, in July 2020 , to demand a special program in Canada for Afghan Sikh and Hindu refugees.
Sikhs, a vulnerable population
In a statement, the Ministry of National Defence also pleaded in support of Minister Sajjan, indicating that all evacuation operations had been carried out. in accordance with the directives of the Government of Canada and the Minister of National Defence
.
The ministry said that staff of the FAC had received a list of controlled and vulnerable people, whom he had endeavored to load on board the planes
. The soldiers did what they could in a very dangerous situation
argued the ministry.
Afghan Sikhs were among the vulnerable populations that Canada and its allies were working to bring to safety as part of the coalition airlift operation.
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Taliban fighters at the site of an explosion outside a Sikh temple that was attacked by members of the Islamic State armed group in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2021. (File photo)
Photo : Associated Press / Ebrahim Noroozi
Asked to respond to Minister Sajjan’s involvement in the rescue of Afghan Sikhs, the head of NPDJagmeet Singh, said the liberal government’s evacuation efforts in Kabul had been a failure
.
Furthermore, he refused to comment on how Harjit Sajjan decided to save this group of Sikhs in 2021, as he did not have enough information about what happened.
According to a report by John Paul Tasker, CBC News
