UN mission documents terror attacks on Sikhs in Afghanistan
MORE THAN 3,400 CIVILIAN CASUALTIES RECORDED N THE FIRST HALF OF 2020, WHICH IS A 13% DECREASE AS COMPARED TO 2019
UNITED NATIONS: The UN mission in Afghanistan has documented attacks by Islamic militants on the Sikh community and other religious minorities in the country and said there were more than 3,400 civilian casualties in the war-torn nation in the first half of 2020.
The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict mid-year report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the first half of 2020 witnessed fluctuating levels of violence impacting civilians in Afghanistan, with the United Nations documenting 3,458 civilian casualties: 1,282 killed and 2,176 injured.
“UNAMA also continued to document attacks from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) on religious minorities in Afghanistan, including the Sikh community and the Shi’a Muslim population, most of who also belong to the Hazara ethnic group,” the report said.
The report noted that while the civilian casualty figures of 3,458 represent a 13% decrease as compared to the first six months of 2019, Afghanistan “remains one of the deadliest conflicts in the world for civilians”.
KABUL GURDWARA ATTACK ONE OF THE DEADLIEST
In March, heavily armed gunmen and suicide bombers attacked a gurdwara in the Shor Bazaar area in the heart of Kabul, killing 25 worshippers and wounding eight others, in one of the deadliest attacks on the minority community in the country.
Authorities said 80 people, including women and children, were rescued from the gurdwara. ISIL-K chief Aslam Farooqi, a Pakistani national, was the mastermind behind the attack.
In April and May, Afghan special forces conducted a series of countrywide operations that led to the arrest of leaders of the terror group, including Farooqi and his predecessor Zia ul-haq.
FEWER OPS BY INTERNATIONAL FORCES
The report said there has been no reduction in civilian casualties caused by the Taliban and Afghan national security forces and the main reason for the lower number of civilian casualties is due to a reduction in operations by international military forces and the ISIL-K Province.
“At a time when the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban have a historic opportunity to come together at the negotiating table for peace talks, the tragic reality is that the fighting continues, inflicting terrible harm to civilians every day,” the secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan and the head of UNAMA Deborah Lyons said.
Lyons urged the parties to pause, to reflect on the chilling incidents and the harm that they are causing to the Afghan people as documented in the report, and to take decisive action to stop the carnage and get to the negotiating table.