Two Indian Jesuit priests and a nun stranded in Afghanistan

They have been running schools in the war-torn country as part of the humanitarian activities of the Jesuit Refugee Service

Representative image.:File picture

K.M. Rakesh   |   TT  |   Bangalore   |  21.08.21: Two Jesuit priests and a nun are among the unknown number of people from Karnataka stranded in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover.

The two priests have been running schools in Afghanistan as part of the humanitarian activities of the Jesuit Refugee Service, an international Catholic organisation. The nun works at another school in Kabul.

Fr Jerome Sequeira, in his sixties, took over the JRS operations in Afghanistan in January this year, while Fr Robert Rodrigues has been working in that country for over a year, a Jesuit priest told The Telegraph on Friday.

“Our information is that both of them are safe. But we don’t know how they would manage to catch a flight out of Kabul,” said Fr Francis D’Souza, a senior Jesuit priest.

Sources in the Bangalore Jesuit Province said Fr Sequeira, who hails from Dakshina Kannada district, had contacted his family on Sunday and was believed to be in a safe house somewhere near Kabul.

Fr Rodrigues, who hails from Thirthahalli in Shimoga district, works at Bamiyan in central Afghanistan and had tried to catch a flight to Kabul on August 14 before the Taliban took control of the airfield.

Karnataka government sources trying to trace the trio said Sr Theresa Crasta, who is part of the Sisters of Charity in Mangalore, was scheduled to return to India on August 17. But she got stranded after the Taliban took over the strife-torn country two days prior to her date of departure.

Information the Karnataka government has received from her family members indicates that she could not reach Kabul airport to catch one of the flights out of Afghanistan apparently due to the multiple roadblocks laid by the Taliban.

The Karnataka government on Wednesday appointed additional director-general of police, CID, Umesh Kumar, as the nodal officer to coordinate the safe evacuation of Kannadigas stuck in Afghanistan.

Home minister Araga Jnanendra on Friday told reporters in Mangalore that the government was still to figure out how many Kannadigas were now in Afghanistan.

“There is no information on how many Kannadigas are there. So we are telling relatives of those who might still be in Afghanistan to call the nodal office and pass on all details,” he said.

The minister assured that everyone would be evacuated from the troubled nation. “The nodal officer is in regular touch with the Centre on the evacuation plans,” Jnanendra said.

The minister had earlier said protection would be provided to the 339 Afghan nationals living in Karnataka. Around 192 of them are students. He had also pledged help to coordinate with the Union government to renew some of their visas that would be expiring soon.