Taliban removes Nishan Sahib from gurdwara in Afghanistan
New DELHI: The Taliban has allegedly removed Nishan Sahib, a Sikh religious flag, from a gurdwara in the Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan. Nishan Sahib was taken off from the roof of Gurdwara Thala Sahib in the Chamkani area of the Paktia province, according to images being tweeted on social media.
HT has not been able to independently verify whether Nishan Sahib was removed from the historic gurdwara, which was once visited by the founder Sikhism Guru Nanak.
On June 22 last year, Nidan Singh Sachdeva, a leader of the Hindu and Sikh community in Afghanistan was abducted by the Taliban from the gurdwara. He was later released following efforts made by the Afghanistan government and community elders.
Before that, around 30 members of the Sikh community were killed in a terror attack claimed by the Islamic State on a place of worship in Kabul on March 25. However, Indian officials said the Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-taiba were involved in the killings.
Afghanistan has been witnessing a surge in violence amid the ongoing withdrawal of troops by the US.
The Taliban has swept through much of rural Afghanistan since early May and is mounting offensives on cities from Herat to Kabul now. Several Afghan cities have been captured by the Taliban in recent weeks and fighting in several others have escalated.
SGPC condemns act
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Bibi Jagir Kaur condemned the alleged removal of Nishan Sahib from the gurdwara by the Taliban. She appealed to the Government of India to ensure the safety of Sikh shrines in Afghanistan and the Sikhs living there. She said that the repeated harassment of Sikhs in Afghanistan is injustice to minorities.