Afghan Sikh families seek Capt govt help for Indian citizenship
LUDHIANA:At least 25 Sikh families from Afghanistan have urged the Congress-led Punjab government to help them get Indian citizenship and give houses to stay as they are unable to fulfil their daily requirements.
Currently residing in Ludhiana, these families apparently came back to India from Kabul in Afghanistan a few years ago after they were continuously forced to convert to Islam.
“We were 40 families that came back to India. Now, only 25 are left. I had four children, but one of my daughters died as she didn’t get proper medical help,” Simmi Singh, one of the members of the 25 families, said. Simmi is forced to earn living for his family by driving an auto-rickshaw.
“I was running my own business in Afghanistan. However, the people there always forced me and my family to become Muslims. Not just that, we were even asked to handover the female members of our families to them. That’s why I came back to India,” he said. Simmi’s wife Meena Kumari said she and their daughters never felt safe in Afghanistan. “There are days when we eat food in a gurdwara. However, we are happy here and will die in India only,” she said.
Similar is the situation for Kulwant Kaur, who is a widow and lives with her two children in Ludhiana. Kulwant’s husband was killed by militants in Afghanistan. “That incident really shocked me and my children. That triggered us to come back to India. However, we never thought that it would be so difficult for us to start a new life here,” said Kulwant.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is playing a helping hand to these families in providing them food. “These families came to us a few years ago. We helped them financially. The SGPC can provide education to the children belonging to these families. However, it’s not just our responsibility as the Union and state governments also need to intervene and help them,” former SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkad said.
On July 1, a suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan’s Jalalabad city killed at least 19 people, mostly Sikhs and Hindus. The deceased included Avtar Singh Khalsa, the only Sikh candidate for the Afghan parliament.
The bombing rattled the Sikh community all over the world. Special prayerswere organised in gurdwaras. According to media reports, some members of the Sikh community in Afghanistan are planning to move to India after the attack.