The attack on the Gurdwara in Kabul’s Karte-Parwan shook Afghan Sikhs. In Afghanistan, where millions of Sikhs used to live in cities and villages, there are now hardly 150 or two hundred families left. Of them, 111 Sikhs were given visas by the Indian government immediately after this attack. 50-55 years ago, when I was doing my research at Kabul University, I used to see that the Sikhs of Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Jalalabad were not only merchants of wealth, they lived very luxurious and secure lives.
The average Pathans, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras treated Sikhs with great respect. Sikhs also used to be very proud of their being Afghans. When I asked an old Sikh in Ghazni that how long have you lived here, he told Tapak that ever since Afghanistan was created! Such patriotic Sikhs have to flee from Afghanistan, is it not a matter of shame? But it is a matter of satisfaction and surprise that the Taliban, who are considered to be extremely radical, had their police guarding that gurdwara but Khurasani Islamic State terrorists were attacking the gurdwara.
A Sikh and a Taliban soldier were killed in the attack. Earlier, dozens of people were killed in the attacks on the Gurdwaras of Jalalabad and Har Rai Sahib. The Taliban government has given one lakh rupees each to the families of the dead in the said attack. And one and a half lakh rupees for the revival of the gurdwara. have been given. These facts are worth noting. Shouldn’t the governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh also do the same? This also shows how much goodwill the Taliban regime has towards India.
The Indian government also sent thousands of tons of wheat and medicines to Kabul to help the Afghan people during the Taliban rule. The Government of India had sent a delegation under the leadership of JP Singh, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, to Kabul so that like the embassies of other 13 countries, our embassy can also be active again, but now after this accident, India will have to be a little more alert.
The attack on the gurdwara happened on the pretext of the BJP spokesperson’s statement about the Prophet, but during the attacks of 2018 and 2020, there was no such thing. Even before this there have been deadly attacks on our Embassy located in Shahre-Nav in Kabul and our laborers working on the Zaranj-Dilaram road.
Only Pakistan can tell us who is the real culprit behind these attacks and only they can stop them. These attackers are tarnishing Islam. These attackers are probably nervous about the easing of relations between India and the Taliban.
