Sikh and Hindu communities appeal for evacuation from war-torn Afghanistan

Amritsar: Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities have appealed to the international community to evacuate them before it is too late. Gurnam Singh, president of Gurdwara Kartae Parwan in Kabul, told that there are around 150 Sikhs and Hindus living under constant Taliban threat in Kabul.

‘For now, we are living in Kabul and are safe, but for how long we will remain safe is anybody’s guess’ said Gurnam, adding that they were afraid to leave and didn’t know even what the next moment would bring. According to him, four out of five Gurdwaras in Kabul are closed and Sri Guru Granth Sahib is only being recited at Gurdwara Kartae Parwan.

‘Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan don’t want to go to India because there is no financial security for them. After living in India for few months, my 14-year-old daughter Ashmit Kumar died of Coronavirus after being deprived of oxygen, and I returned to Kabul’, he said, pointing out that the state of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs living in Delhi was not acceptable.

The Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation, Khalsa Aid Canada and World Sikh Organization (WSO) of Canada are urging the government of Canada to create a special program for Afghanistan’s highly vulnerable Sikh and Hindu minorities. Our organization fully supports those who are calling on the Canadian government to act swiftly by providing safe passage for vulnerable groups in Afghanistan, including Sikhs and Hindus who have long been the targets of extremist outfits.

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‘Children and adults have been killed in attacks on places of worship. Additional losses of life are not a matter of if, but when’, legal counsel Balpreet Singh Boparai said on Monday evening. Manmeet Singh Bhullar took on the cause of helping Sikh and Hindu minorities in Afghanistan in 2015. Over the last few years, the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation has worked with the Canadian government and community partners to bring 60 refugees to Canada, with 120 more in the queue to arrive shortly through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program.