Afghan policemen inspect the site of a blast in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan, July 1, 2018. (REUTERS/Parwiz)
There was an emotion of grief and anger among the people in Punjab as they strongly condemned the killing of at least nineteen people from Sikh and Hindu community in a suicide bomb attack at Jalalabad province in Afghanistan Sunday.
Questioning the safety of minority Hindu and Sikh population in war-torn country Afghanistan which has overwhelming Muslim population, the Sikh community in Punjab asked that why the governments have failed to ensure safety of minorities there. They also demanded that culprits behind the deadly attack, suspected to be Islamic State (IS), be immediately identified and action taken against them.
Among the deceased were 13 prominent Sikh leaders of Afghanistan including Awtar Singh Khalsa, who was also running for parliamentary elections to represent Sikh and Hindu community.
In some cases, children of Sikhs killed in attack are living in India. In other cases, women there are alone now as their husbands are dead.
Sikh community has now appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to relax visa norms and unite families already in grief. They have requested Modi to give citizenship of India to Sikh and Hindu minorities living in Afghanistan so that they can come back legally.
Amarpreet Singh, Asia-Pacific managing director of Khalsa Aid, a humanitarian-aid relief organization, said that he is in constant touch with the local volunteers in Afghanistan.
“At least eleven cremations were performed today. It is a heart-rending moment for Sikh community across the world as people from our community and Hindus have been martyred in Afghanistan. But now we are more concerned about their families who need our support now. Also, there are many Sikh families living in Delhi whose men have been martyred there. Their children were studying and living in India whereas they were in Afghanistan.”
Inderjit Singh, Amrik Singh, Anoop Singh, Mehar Singh and Satnam Singh were some of Sikh leaders killed in Afghanistan Sunday but their children are living in Delhi.
Raghvir Singh, secretary, Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara Management Committee, Delhi said that they appeal to government to make immediate arrangements to unite grief-stricken families.
“Children of some men we lost in attack are here in Delhi. In some cases, their mothers are in Afghanistan. They are fatherless now and we need to unite them with their mothers. In other cases, women there are alone now as their husbands have died. We need to bring them back. We appeal to PM Modi to recognize those families as Indians,” he said.
On Monday, an inter-faith meeting was held at Jama Masjid (mosque) of Ludhiana city where Shahi Imam Punjab Habib Ur Rahman along with Prithpal Singh, head sewadar, gurudwara Dukhnivaran Sahib and Jagdish Bajaj, president of Gyan Sthal Temple- collectively condemned the attack.
“It was a cowardly attack to suppress minorities in Afghanistan. It was a well-planned conspiracy to terrorize minorities and eliminate their leadership so that they cannot raise their voice for their rights in Afghanistan. The bereaved families of Sikhs and Hindus killed in this attack should be protected now. Their need financial and emotional support both,” said Prithpal Singh, head sewadar, gurudwara Dukhnivaran Sahib.
Shahi Imam Punjab Habib Ur Rahman said that the terrorists behind this attack should also be hanged to death. “Killing of Sikhs and Hindus in this cowardly attack has added a black chapter in history of Afghanistan and it can never be erased now. Hindus and Sikhs living in Afghanistan are an integral part of society. They are our brothers. If the terrorists who executed this attack call themselves Muslims, then they do not have any right to say that. Terrorists have no religion,” he said.
“Resilience of Afghan Sikhs killed in suicide attack can be gauged from the fact that they chose to live in Afghanistan to look after our community and gurdwaras. Like thousands of others, they too might have fled to US, UK, India or Canada and left Afghanistan, but they chose to stay. They have been martyred,” said Harjinder Singh Kukreja, a Sikh philanthropist from Ludhiana.