US senators seek refuge for Afghan Sikhs and Hindus
WASHINGTON : As many as 20 US senators have urged the Trump administration to grant emergency refugee protection to Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan facing persecution as religious minorities.
In a bipartisan letter addressed to secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the senators called on the state department to prioritise resettlement opportunities under the US Refugee Admissions Programme allocation ceilings for Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities.
The population of Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan has plummeted markedly due to years of persecution by the Taliban and more recent terrorist actions perpetrated by ISIS Khorasan (ISIS-K), they said. “This administration has repeatedly highlighted protecting religious freedom as a top foreign policy priority,” the senators wrote.
‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO HINDUS, SIKHS’
“Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan face an existential threat from ISIS-K because of their religion. To protect religious freedom, we urgently ask that you take these essential steps to defend these threatened religious minorities,” they said in the letter.
The letter was written by senator Robert Menendez, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, and senators Thom Tillis, Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tim Kaine, Kamala Harris, Bob Casey, Chris Van Hollen, Bernie Sanders, Patty Murray, Chris Coons, Ed Markey, Tammy Duckworth, Jack Reed, Mark Warner, Ben Cardin, and James Lankford.
“ISIS-K targets religious minorities in Afghanistan and poses an existential threat to Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu communities in particular,” the letter said.
The Sikh and Hindu communities once numbered around 2,50,000 people but now have fewer than 1,000 individuals due to decades of persecution, they added. The communities continue to face discrimination in access to housing and employment, and the Taliban has previously mandated that Sikhs and Hindus wear yellow armbands or patches as a marker of their religious status, the senators wrote.