- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AT least 300 Sikhs from Kabul, Ghazni and Jalalabad besides a few Hindus have reportedly taken shelter in Karteparwan Gurudwara in the capital city that the Taliban took over on Sunday (15).
Gurnam Singh, the president of the gurudwara committee, told The Tribune newspaper in the Indian state of Punjab that local Taliban leaders met the representatives of the Sikh and Hindu communities and told them not to leave the country.
The also asked them to put a white flag outside the gurudwara to signal that it was under the protection of the Taliban, one source said.
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“The Taliban leaders assured protection to our families. We hope they will keep their word,” Singh said.
Sikhs in AF holed up in Gurdwara Karte Bhawan have made an emotional appeal via video urging Sikhs in US & Canada to rescue them to safety. They live in constant environment of fear & uncertainty. pic.twitter.com/lNUD25bQ0y
— Amaan (@amaanbali) August 17, 2021
The other five Sikh shrines and the two Hindu temples in Kabul were closed. Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Manjinder Sirsa said he was in touch with the Kabul gurdwara panel chief, the daily added.
However, Indian relatives of several Sikh families stuck in Afghanistan were wary of their future under Taliban rule.
The extremist group took control of Kabul, the national capital, on Sunday (15) after president Ashraf Ghani fled. Panic spread throughout the city as people rushed to the airport to catch whatever flights available to leave the country. Many tried to flee by sitting on the plane’s wings and wheels and perished on the way.
Afghan Sikhs in India, whose families have remained stranded in the war-ravaged country, are now desperately looking for ways to brought their kin to safety.
Sanmeet Singh, for instance, has requested the Indian government to evacuate his family members who are stuck in Afghanistan at the earliest. Singh, who went to the Afghanistan Embassy in New Delhi on Monday (16) for a rectification in his passport, urged the Narendra Modi government to evacuate his family which is in Afghanistan.
Speaking to Indo-Asian News Service, Singh said. “I just want to make this appeal to the Government of India, that 80 to 90 Sikhs who are stuck there should be taken out and sent to Delhi as soon as possible.
He said the family members are also currently put up at Karteparwan Gurudwara.
Singh rued that he had not left for Kabul a week ago and bring his families back home. An emotional Singh said several of his relatives are stuck in that country.
The Afghanistan Embassy in New Delhi saw many people arriving on Monday morning to know the whereabouts and well-being of their family members staying in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s airspace was shut as a result of which no commercial flight could reach or leave Afghanistan.
The Indian foreign ministry on Monday (16) said New Delhi will help members of Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu communities to come to India.
“We are in constant touch with the representatives of Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities. We will facilitate repatriation to India of those who wish to leave Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.
India’s external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is currently on a four-day visit to the US, said the Indian government is in constant touch with the Sikh and Hindu community leaders in Kabul, adding their welfare was getting priority attention.
We are in constant touch with the Sikh and Hindu community leaders in Kabul. Their welfare will get our priority attention. @capt_amarinder @HardeepSPuri
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) August 16, 2021
