After the gruesome suicide bombing in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad killed close to 19 Sikhs, the community is divided over whether they should relocate to India or not. The horrible attack that happened on July 1st also took away the last hope of the Sikhs and Hindus living in Afghanistan, their leader Avtar Singh Khalsa, who was a candidate of the parliamentary elections representing Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh population and fighting for their rights in the nation. A delegation of Sikh and Hindu communities was on their way to attend a meeting with the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, when they were targeted and murdered by radical Islamist group.
It’s not the first time the Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan met such horrible fate. The Hindus and Sikhs minorities residing in Afghanistan have endured several years of discrimination and persecution in a war-torn country. They were never allowed to live peacefully there and had always been under the radar of Islamic State (ISIS). They were always provided with one option either converts to Islam or leave the nation. Otherwise they will be hanged to death. In 1970, Hindus and Sikhs population used to be 80,000 but after years of repeated threats and persecution their number has reduced to just 1,000.
The sense of horror has grown more among the minority communities after the recent attack. With many people choosing to leave the Islamic nation and come to India others are still not willing to leave the place. The difference in opinion lies as some people feel that there is nothing left for them now in the nation as they very well know their religious practices will now not be tolerated by the Islamic terrorists. The secretary of a national panel of Hindus and Sikhs Tejvir Singh said “Our religious practices will not be tolerated by the Islamic terrorists, we are Afghans. The government recognizes us, but terrorists target us because we are not Muslims,”
Raghubir Singh, who lost his father Meher Singh, the president of a Gurdwara in Jalalabad in suicide attack, said, “Ab sab khatam ho gaya. Ab hum yahan nahi rahenge (Now, everything has ended. Now, we will not stay here), no elderly Sikh is left behind. Only young generation is left. Chhote Chhote bache reh gaye hain (only Children are left). There is no one to guide us now. There is so much danger here. We will no longer stay. We will leave Afghanistan. We will go to any other country, but won’t stay here,” according to Indian Express report
On the other hand, others who are not willing to leave are of the opinion that “Afghanistan is their land, their country & their culture and they will not leave, they are not cowards, who will be driven away by those who thrive on spreading terror. They also feel historically Afghanistan is theirs as one of the founding leaders of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, visited Afghanistan in 1520 and they all are his followers since then.
While some of them do not wish to come to India as they feel that they will face various hardships and citizenship issue in India which is not the case. India has always lent all its support to curb the terrorism in the nation. India has strongly acted against this act of violence also and has issued long-term visas to members of Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu communities. Rest, final decision is of the people. “They can all live in India without any limitation, “The final call has to be taken by them. We are here to assist them.”said Vinay Kumar, India’s ambassador to Afghanistan.
Source : IndiaTimes
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