Earlier in this month, in a gruesome suicide attack in 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. Awtar Singh Khalsa, who was planning to contest parliamentary elections representing Hindu and Sikh minority population of Afghanistan, also lost his life in the attack.
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 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.
Fed up of pressure to convert to Islam and other threats, few Sikh families escaped to Punjab a few years back. They have been seeking refuge in Punjab, and now they are demanding Punjab government to provide them Indian citizenship. These families are facing immense difficulties, struggling to earn their basic livelihood. Currently these families are living in Ludhiana. After the suicide attack, plight of these families has once again emerged to the forefront. One of the members of the 25 families, Simmi Singh told ANI, “In total, we were 40 families, which came back to India. Now only 25 are left. I had four children, but one of my daughters died some time ago as she didn’t get proper medical help.” He further elaborated about the reasons why he left Afghanistan and sought refuge in India. He said, “I was running my own business in Afghanistan. However, the people there always forced me and my family to become Muslims. Not just that, we were even asked to handover the female members of our families to them. That’s why I came back to India.” As reported by Republic TV, Simmi’s wife Meena Kumari said she and their daughters “never felt safe in Afghanistan”, they are happy in India and will die in India. She said, “There are days when we eat food in a Gurdwara. However, we are happy here and will die in India only.”
Persecution in Islamic countries is forcing Sikhs to return to India, because India is the only place where they always will be safe. There are many such stories of persecution of minorities in Afghanistan who are going through ocean of pain and misery. However, a section of Sikh population based in Canada completely unaware of the ground realities is trying to achieve their political ends by playing victim card and calling for a separate homeland for the Sikhs-Khalistan. These bunch of cowards and traitors are sponsored by Pakistan and its intelligence agency ISI. Referendum 2020 is a secessionist movement demanding separate homeland for the Sikhs called Khalistan. A website called Referendum 2020 reads- “Actively and peacefully advocating the call given by SFJ to hold referendum for Sikhs’ right to self determination and to liberate Indian Occupied Punjab”. The words “Indian Occupied Punjab” suggest that the main idea of Referendum 2020 is to liberate only the Indian Punjab for the Sikhs, while the Referendum does not show any concern about the Pakistani Punjab or towards Pakistani Sikhs who are evidently living a miserable life. The pro-Khalistan movement has always been silent about Pakistani Sikhs. The only reason could be that Pakistan is actively helping the pro-Khalistan movement.
Pro-Khalistani elements have been aided by political parties like AAP. Former state DGP of Punjab, KPS Gill had rightly said that AAP is providing a platform to radicals in Punjab. He said, “Radical Sikh diaspora are very disappointed over what they could not achieve earlier. Now with Aam Aadmi Party there is influx of them from foreign countries. They think this is the opportunity which is very good for them and they would be able to create a big base from which to operate.”
A few days ago, senior leader of AAP and Punjab leader Sukhpal Khaira had supported a referendum for Khalistan. Khaira reportedly said, “I support the Sikh referendum 2020 movement as Sikhs have the right to demand justice against atrocities suffered by them”. This is not for the first time that AAP have come under the scanner for their Khalistani connections. Before the Punjab polls last year, AAP-Khalistan links had been exposed completely as Kejriwal stayed at the house of an alleged Khalistani terrorist. At that time, he got embroiled in a massive controversy over staying at Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) activist Gurwinder Singh’s house during his Punjab visit. Gurwinder Singh had been jailed in the past in cases relating to murder and other heinous crimes. However, he was later acquitted and went to England. It has been alleged that he has been working for KLF from England. After this, Khalistani links of the Kejriwal led party were again exposed with allegations of election funding from the hardliner Sikh groups. Photos also emerged of ISYF (banned terror organisation) chief, Gurdial Singh campaigning for the AAP before the Punjab polls.
Those who support radical and separatist elements should talk to the Sikhs who want to seek refuge in India to escape religious persecution at the hands of the Islamists. But it looks like that will also not change their mentality as these people are just politically motivated ISI-backed puppets who are well aware of the ground realities and are indulge in this for their own vested interests.