As New Delhi rescued them from Kabul post-Taliban takeover, the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus hoped of finding a new home, and citizenship, in India. Two years in, more than 300 have moved to Canada.
According to the Hindus and Sikhs in Kabul, the repair work of the Gurdwara Dashmesh Pita, which was attacked on June 18, will be completed by August end.
Amritsar: Bombs in Kabul and Covid in Delhi the targeted Sikh and Hindu minorities of Afghanistan have nowhere to escape.
Despite more than 50 deaths in Saturday’s Kabul explosion, the remaining minority families now can’t even flee to India. Gurdwara Kartae Parwan president Gurnam Singh told TOI over telephone from Kabul on Sunday: “The blast revived our memories of the March 2020 suicide bombing that killed 25 Sikhs and triggered the first migration from Afghanistan. Covid in Delhi has forced 15 to 20 of those families to return.”
He said: “People in Delhi are dying for want of oxygen so we have dropped our plans of moving to India for now but hoping to go back once the situation improves.” Only 50-odd Sikh and Hindus families remain in Afghanistan, in Kabul mostly, and they went into a huddle on Saturday.