Fear grips Afghan minorities

The dastardly attack on the Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul which killed Sikh granthi Sawinder Singh and the Muslim guard on Saturday should deserve severe condemnation.Mercifully, the local Afghan security averted a major tragedy by stopping an explosive- laden truck from reaching the site of the tragedy.

The attacks on Hindu and Sikh minorities and their places of worship have been a constant feature in the war-torn country. In March 2020, at least 25 Sikh worshippers were killed when a heavily armed suicide-bomber stormed his way into a prominent gurdwara in the city’s heart.

In 2018, a suicide bomber struck a gathering in the city of Jalalabad. Following these attacks, the number of Sikhs in the country has been constantly dwindling.

If sources have to be believed, only about 150 Sikh individuals are stated to be left in Kabul which has five gurdwaras. Of these, only the Karte Parwan was functional. Almost the entire Sikh population in Jalalabad which once upon a time had around 1,500 individuals, have migrated out of the country.

Much of the Hindu population has already left the Taliban-ruled country finding it unsafe. The responsibility for the latest attack has been claimed by the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), who are said to be opposed to the rule of the Talibans.

But during the days of Afghan National Government led by Hamid Karzai and still later by Ashraf Ghani, it were the Talibans who were the principal tormentors against the religious minorities. Now that they are at the helm of power, they are only grudgingly tolerating the minorities.

The organisations like ISKP are only emulating what the Talibans did while fighting against the Ghani government. Afghanistan presents a none-too-happy picture of a nation-state. The Hindu and Sikh minority population is stated to have declined from seven lakhs in 1970s to less than 7,000 in 2017.

During the 1990s, many were target of abduction and forcible evacuation from their properties. Numbers have further dipped after the exit of the National Government. Although Talibans are said to be conservative and discriminatory, they are still considered a safer bet as they do not interfere in religious activities.

But as a whole, it is pointed out, Afghanistan is not the place where minorities can expect to prosper. The Taliban regime has made it mandatory for the Hindu and Sikh individuals to wear a yellow armband. An exclusionary tool, it only enhances the vulnerability of the individual following faiths other than Islam.

The Government of India has announced issuance of e-visa to the members wishing to leave Afghanistan. It came soon after the attack. Their applications were pending since September, a month after Taliban stormed into Kabul following the exit of the last of the American military contingents.

It may be recalled that newspapers had flashed pictures of Prime Minister Modi meeting a delegation of Sikhs from Kabul on February 18, just two days prior to the polling in Punjab.

While the Government had made much noises announcing India to be safe haven for non-Muslim minorities from neighbouring countries while introducing the bill for the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, such posturing is telltale evidence of the sincerity of the dispensation at Delhi. Delhi should raise the issue of safety and security of Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan while reaching out to the Taliban regime in Kabul.