In a tragic news from Afghanistan, 19 people lost their lives in a suicide bombing, 17 of the dead were Sikhs and Hindus. A delegation of Sikh and Hindu communities on their way to attend a meeting with the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, were targeted and murdered by radical Islamist group. Inamullah Miakhail, spokesperson for the provincial hospital in Nangarhar said at least 10 of the 20 injured are also from the same minority community. He further said, “They are receiving medical treatment at a hospital in the provincial capital.” According to officials some of the injured are in very serious condition.
It got confirmed that Awtar Singh Khalsa, who was planning to contest parliamentary elections representing Hindu and Sikh minority population of Afghanistan was dead. Along with his group, he was heading to meet with the President Ashraf Ghani, who was visiting Jalalabad on July 1st. Ghani was also in the Nangarhar province, the blast happened hundreds of meters away from the provincial governor’s compound where Ashraf Ghani was holding a meeting. President Ghani’s spokesman said the President was still in Nangarhar but was “away from danger”.
The Indian Embassy in Kabul condemned the “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack.” The embassy tweeted, “The attack underlines the need for a united global fight against international terrorism without discrimination and accountability of those who support terrorists in any manner.”
1/2 We strongly condemn the henious and cowardly terrorist attack in #Jalalabad today evening which resulted in the death of 20 innocent Afghans, including 10 members of the Afghan Sikh Community, and injured more than 20 persons.
— India in Afghanistan (@IndianEmbKabul) July 1, 2018
2/2 We convey heartfelt condolences 2 d families of d victims & pray 4 early recovery of d injured.The attack again underlines d need 4 united global fight against international terrorism without discrimination & accountability of those who support terrorists in any manner
— India in Afghanistan (@IndianEmbKabul) July 1, 2018
The Hindus and Sikh minority population have been facing all sorts of discrimination in Afghanistan. According to Minority Rights Group of Afghanistan, Hindus and Sikhs are pressurized to convert to Islam and face disruptions in funeral and cremation ceremonies by the local officials. They face all sorts of social ostracization and economic hardships mainly because dominant muslim population refuse to conduct business with them and attempts of grabbing the land of minorities are regularly made. Apart from daily economic and social discrimination, minorities also endure physical attacks and verbal abuses. Afghanistan’s capital Kabul was once home to eight Sikh Gurdwaras, but today it is left with only one. It’s not just only about Afghanistan, Hindus face persecution in other muslim dominated nations as well, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and very recently according to the Amnesty report, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the force which is praised as the resistance wing of the Rohingyas had carried out a planned massacre on Hindu villages, killing 99 Hindu men, women and children. In any Islamic dominated region/country this is how minorities are treated. The Hindus and Sikhs minorities residing in Afghanistan have endured several years of discrimination and persecution in a war-torn country. As a result in order to avoid persecution many Sikhs and Hindus have moved to India. In the 1970s, 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.
