Fear factor: Can’t live here anymore, say Afghan Sikhs
Inhuman act, says SGPC chief, gurdwara panel to give ₹1 lakh to kin of dead, wants injured to be brought to India; Swaraj urged to take up matter with Afghanistan authorities
: Many among Afghanistan’s dwindling Sikh minority are considering leaving for neighbouring India, after a suicide bombing in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday killed at least 13 members of the community.
The victims of the attack claimed by militant group Islamic State included Avtar Singh Khalsa, the only Sikh candidate in parliamentary elections this October, and Rawail Singh, a prominent community activist. “I am clear that we can’t live here anymore,” said Tejvir Singh, 35, whose uncle was killed in the blast.
“Our religious practices will not be tolerated by the Islamic terrorists. We are Afghans. The government recognises us, but terrorists target us because we are not Muslims,” added Singh, the secretary of a national panel of Hindus and Sikhs.
In a statement released on Monday, the Islamic State while claiming the responsibility of the attack said it had targeted a group of “polytheists”.
Sikhs and Hindus face discrimination in the conservative Muslim country and have been targeted by Islamic extremists in the past, leading many to emigrate. The Sikh community now numbers fewer than 300 families in Afghanistan, which has only two gurdwaras, or places of worship, one each in Jalalabad and Kabul, the capital, Singh added.
Although almost entirely a Muslim country, Afghanistan was home to as many as 250,000 Sikhs and Hindus before a devastating civil war in the 1990s. Even a decade ago, the US state department said in a report, about 3,000 Sikhs and Hindus still lived there. Despite official political representation and freedom of worship, many face prejudice and harassment as well as violence from militant Islamist groups, prompting thousands to move to India, their spiritual homeland.
Following the Jalalabad attack, some Sikhs have sought shelter at the city’s Indian consulate. “We are left with two choices: to leave for India or to convert to Islam,” said Baldev Singh, who owns a book- and textile shop in Jalalabad.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has announced that the organisation will give ₹1 lakh to families of each of the Sikhs killed during the terror attack in Afghanistan on Sunday and also take financial responsibility of the education of their kids.
SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal said that ₹50,000 will also be given to the injured for treatment. “It would be better if the injured persons are brought to India for treatment. It would give them relief,” he added.
DELEGATION MEETS SUSHMA SWARAJ
SGPC spokesperson Diljit Singh Bedi said a delegation comprising Longowal, MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, MP Prem Singh Chandumajra, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) chief Manjit Singh GK, former chairman of National Commission for Minorities Tarlochan Singh and a few Sikhs from Afghanistan also met external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
The delegation requested the minister to take measures to ensure the safety of the Sikhs there and send a joint delegation of government and the SGPC to Afghanistan to take stock of the situation.
“The minister assured the delegation that necessary measures will be taken for safeguard of Sikhs and the community will be provided with every help,” he added.
The minister condemned the suicide attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad yesterday that killed 13 members from the Afghan Sikh community, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
“EAM @SushmaSwaraj expressed sincere condolences during her meeting with a delegation of representatives of the SGPC, the Sikh community from Afghanistan and relatives of the victims,” Kumar tweeted after the meeting.
SGPC OFFICE REMAINED CLOSED
Condemning the killing of Sikhs and others in Afghanistan, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee closed its offices on Monday and said that the
Afghanistan government had failed to provide security to minority communities.
“The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee rank and file gathered at Teja Singh Samundari Hall, where they recited gurbani and performed
‘ardas’ for the victims,” said Roop Singh, chief secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Saying that the attack was inhuman, Longowal added, “The Sikhs have been living in Afghanistan since the era of Guru Nanak and
contributing to the prosperity and progress of the country.”
“However, this is matter of deep concern that Sikhs are not provided security there. In this kind of environment, they are feeling unsafe. This is the reason that many Sikhs have migrated to other countries”.
Longowal added that a deeprooted conspiracy was at work against the Sikhs as their leader Avtar Singh Khalsa, one of the victims, was to contest Afghan Parliamentary elections in October.