Three from Darjeeling manage to get out from Kabul, scores feared stranded

By: Deep Gazmer and Nisha Chettri
DARJEELING/KALIMPONG: Three workers at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul, residents of Darjeeling district, were airlifted to Dubai on Tuesday, bringing hope in the region from where it is feared, scores — as many as 80 by some accounts, mostly employed as security guards — are stranded in the violence-torn country.
Former armyman Pawan* from Siliguri’s Shastri Nagar landed in Dubai airport around 1.30pm on Tuesday with members of the embassy.
With them was Amir*, a resident of Changthang Mareybong in Bijanbari, who was helped by the company he works for to reach the American airbase in Kabul, from where he took the flight to Dubai.
Kalimpong resident Manish*, another security guard, also managed to reach Dubai late on Tuesday after a day of uncertainty.
TOI managed to briefly speak to the first two evacuees after they landed in Dubai.
“We are safe,” Pawan said, adding that some others — residents of Kalimpong and Darjeeling — were still stuck at a camp in Kabul. A relieved Amir said it was the wait and uncertainty that was agonising and unnerving.
“We had no idea if we would be evacuated at all. The situation in Kabul is very scary. I am thankful that the company I work with arranged for our evacuation,” he said, adding that they would travel to India via London, since there are no direct flights from Dubai.
For several other families, every moment is filled with anxiety and fear.
Aloobari resident Ekta* (38), Manish’s wife, will perhaps now be able to sleep for a bit after getting news that he has made it to Dubai.
For the most part of the day, she was feeling so hopeless that even a nap proved impossible since Sunday. ]
She managed to talk to him just once — that too, briefly — on Tuesday. She frantically dialled his number since then, but without luck. Each subsequent try ended in a failure to connect.
When they last talked, Manish, who also works at the Canadian Embassy, was still stuck at the airport.
“I could just talk for a few minutes this morning,” Bandana said earlier in the day. “He told me he was waiting at the airport to be evacuated. Since then, I have not been able to contact him.” Their 14-year-old daughter, Shreya, was also worried. “Every time she is going through those horrifying visuals of chaos at the airport on TV or on social media, she is breaking down.”
Mani*, from Lower Bong Bustee, Kalimpong, said her husband was stranded in Afghanistan with about 80 people from Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Kurseong.
“I spoke to him a while ago. He is confined to his room, as it is unsafe to step outside. He told me the rescue flight could not land in Afghanistan on Tuesday, and that he and the others could not be evacuated. I am very worried,” she said.
Mani's husband is also a former Armyman who has been working as a security guard in Afghanistan since December last year.
Roshan Lama, a senior member of the citizens’ group Darjeeling Initiative and the NGO Edwards Foundation, said: “We have been getting distress calls from relatives of those stuck in Kabul. We have opened a number — 8509126800 — to collect information, which we will forward to the ministry of external affairs.”
Senior officials of the Darjeeling and Kalimpong district administrations said they were enquiring into the details, and would get in touch with MEA officials shortly.
(*Names changed to protect their identity)