India committed to stand by Afghan Hindus and Sikhs

Ever since the Taliban has taken over Afghanistan, It has become impossible for the Afghan Sikhs to live in the country

New Delhi, July 02: The safe arrival of Raqbir Singh and 10 other Afghan Sikhs by a special flight from Kabul to New Delhi indicates how much India cares for its people stranded in adverse circumstances abroad.

Singh sustained severe burn injuries during the terrorist attack on the Karte Parwan Gurudwara, the main religious centre of the Sikh community in Kabul, on June 18 this year.

Knowledgeable sources say that ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August last year, the life of the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs has increasingly been in peril in the country. The Taliban terrorist attack has made the survival of the around 152 remaining Sikhs "impossible" in Afghanistan.

The good news is that in coordination with the think tank Indian World Forum and the Government of India, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, has been facilitating the transfer of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan to India. The government of India is committed to stand by the Hindus and Sikhs stranded in Afghanistan. Government has assured to do everything possible for their proper rehabilitation back in India.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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