Sikh NGO’s witty response to woman who questioned it

NEW DELHI: A UK-based international NGO Khalsa Aid’s tweet responding to a woman who questioned the Sikh group for helping Rohingya Muslims at the Myanmar border has earned praise.

“I can see that you are going to Myanmar border to feed Rohingyas. Can you also go to Pakistan to save Sikhs paying jizya?” Sonam Mahajan, who has over a million followers and describes herself “politically aware Dogra Hindu”, tweeted to Khalsa Aid on Monday. Jizya is a protection tax minorities paid in Muslim-ruled states historically, but there is no evidence of it being applied now in Pakistan by the country’s government.

The group, which has been providing food and shelter to the Rohingya minority fleeing violence in Myanmar, responded: Not only Sikhs we also assisted Hindus too during the 2005 earthquake & 2009 SWAT crises. .and you (sic)?

The NGO’s volunteers had set up a daily langar service for 30,000 to 50,000 people in Teknaf, a border town of Myanmar and Bangladesh last week.

Khalsa Aid’s retort was hailed by Twitter users, with some accusing Mahajan of ‘cheap publicity’ and others commending the NGO’s act as ‘humanity first’. “We have seen people living on open ground. The wet weather is making their lives even worse,” Amarpreet Singh, MD of the Indian wing of charity organisation told an Australian radio broadcaster. HTC