Shameless bid to sow instability in Afghanistan

The attack on a Sikh Gurudwara in Kabul on Wednesday -- in which 25 members of the India-origin minority community were killed -- is a shameless and cynical attempt to deepen the sense of instability and political chaos in war-torn Afghanistan. The targeting of the “dharamsal”, or home of religion, as gurdwaras are respectfully called in Afghanistan, comes just weeks after the Americans signed a peace agreement with the Taliban last month, although an accompanying process to get going the envisioned intra-Afghan dialogue to determine the future political coordinates of the country continues to lie in a state of uncertainty.

The Islamic State, which lost no time in claiming the attack and has no stakes in the country’s future, is evidently being destructive as it seeks nothing more than to deepen the sense of insecurity and disorder at a historical juncture which, regrettably, is characterised by an absence of effective authority in the country. The only source of solace in a grim situation is that the Taliban, which is straining every nerve to return to power after 19 years, has repudiated the dharamsal attack.

Islamic State is at odds with the Taliban, an armed group with local power ambitions that has been nurtured by Pakistan practically since its nebulous founding at the time of the anti-Soviet jehad in the 1980s. Ironically, the local IS too is thought by many experts as well as an array of Afghan politicians to owe its existence to Pakistan’s military intelligence, the ISI. That makes the Islamic State the second string to Pakistan’s bow in the Afghan theatre.

The gurudwara at Kabul’s Shor Bazar (Salt Market) in the old city is probably the oldest in Afghanistan and is a respected institution. The Sikhs in the country -- along with the Hindus -- are now probably no more than 10,000 strong. Though so few, they have representatives in Parliament. They are not victimised or discriminated against either by the government or by Muslim society.

However, the Sikhs and Hindus, who have been in Afghanistan for approximately 200 years, have complained of their lands in rural areas having been grabbed by unscrupulous elements in the wake of the Soviet invasion of December 1979, which led to the rise of warlords and strongmen all over the country. In fact, the grab of lands of ordinary folk is known to be the scourge of Afghanistan, and millions of refugees who returned from neighbouring countries after the collapse of Taliban rule in 2001 are still running from pillar to post to get back their properties.

Earlier this month, a few weeks before the Gurudwara attack, IS had attacked a memorial congregation of Afghanistan’s minority Shia community, who are seen as being outside the pale by ultra-conservative Sunni elements. None of this has any impact on the tortuous “peace process”. On Wednesday night, the government announced a delegation to negotiate the freeing and exchange of prisoners with the Taliban.