Why Hindus, Sikhs Are Systematically Targeted in Afghanistan and Pakistan | News from India

NEW DELHI: First, under Taliban rule, Sikhs and minority Hindus in Afghanistan were asked to identify by wearing yellow armbands – just as the Nazis carried badges yellow to the Jews – then they were routinely driven out of the country because of enforced discrimination, and now the Islamic State and probably Pakistani elements are actively murdering them, report various credible news agencies.

Yesterday, a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus en route to meeting with the Afghan president in Jalalabad, in the east of the country, killing at least 19 people. Ten of the dead were Sikhs and seven were Hindu, an Associated Press report reported. No less than 20 people were injured and the number of injured would have been higher if much of the city had not been blocked for President Ashraf Ghani's visit.

The Islamic State claimed the attack in a statement through its online news agency Amaq, the Reuters news agency reported. Fighters of the Islamic State have established a strong presence in recent years in Jalalabad, where targeted attacks against Hindus and Sikhs took place yesterday.

Other sources, such as the ANI news agency, said that the attack was allegedly perpetrated by the Taliban under the patronage of the Pakistan Intelligence Agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Still others say that Pakistani terrorists – still through the ISI – are actively targeting Hindus and Sikhs on the other side of the border in Afghanistan. It has long been known that the ISI – an element of state – supports those who carry out terrorist acts against India.

Sikhs and Hindus have long suffered widespread discrimination in conservative Muslim countries and have been regularly targeted by Islamic extremists. In the 1990s, Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan were said to have more than 80,000 people. But, today, there is only one thousand left.

The situation of Sikhs and Hindus, even in Pakistan, particularly in the border regions of Afghanistan, is catastrophic. A month ago, the prominent Sikh religious leader Charanjit Singh Sagar was shot dead in the city of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. The minority Sikh and Hindu community in Pakistan remains a frequent target of the Pakistani Taliban – which the US claims is backed by state elements – and many of these families have been forced to emigrate to Europe and India, said the ANI.

Among those killed in Afghanistan yesterday, Avtar Singh Khalsa had planned to run for the October parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. In this predominantly Muslim nation, there remains a small number of Hindus and Sikhs, and a seat in the Afghan parliament is reserved for a member of these small communities.

Parwiz Kawa, a well-known journalist and writer in Afghanistan, expressed deep concern over the barbaric murder of Avtar Singh and other members of the minority community.

"And our Avtar Singh no longer shows up in parliament, the terrorists killed him with 9 other Afghan Sikhs and 9 others. A total of 19 people lost their lives in an explosion in Nangarhar province" , tweeted Kawa.

In May, Kawa had tweeted saying that the candidacy of Avtar Singh demonstrated that the "battle for democracy ends up winning, and it shows a victory for democracy".

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