NYT: In Panjshir, one of the last holdout regions against the Soviets and the Taliban, some would prefer to go their own way rather than support a government negotiating peace with the insurgency. Deputy head of the upper house of Parliament who represents Panjshir: “…don’t trust the government anymore.” Click here to read more (external
AP: Afghanistan’s dwindling community of Sikhs and Hindus is shrinking to its lowest levels. With growing threats from the local Islamic State affiliate, many are choosing to leave the country of their birth to escape the insecurity and a once-thriving community of as many as 250,000 members now counts fewer than 700. Click here to
PTI: Describing Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan as “endangered minorities”, a resolution introduced in the US Congress has sought to resettle these persecuted religious communities from the war-torn country to America. Introduced in the House of Representatives last week by Congresswoman Jackie Speier and co-sponsored by seven others, the resolution supports refugee protection for Sikhs
Tolo News: A group of around 180 Afghanistan Hindu and Sikhs is likely to reach India on Wednesday, the Times of India reported on Tuesday. Efforts are underway to evacuate relatives of all persons who died in the Kabul bomb blast in March that claimed 25 lives at a Hindu and Sikh place of worship,
By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal May 2, 2020 Pashtun rights activist and political leader Sardar Arif Wazir has died of injuries sustained in a shooting attack in Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal district. The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), a rights group that Wazir helped lead, confirmed to RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that Wazir died in Islamabad on May 2.
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal May 1, 2020 Unidentified gunmen have critically injured a prominent ethnic Pashtun rights activist in an attack in Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal district. Sardar Arif Wazir, one of the leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was traveling by car in the city of Wanna when gunmen opened fire from another vehicle,
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News April 18, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Four-year-old Tanya Kaur woke up her father, Harinder Singh, to tell him she wanted to wear some new clothes to the gurdwara, a Sikh temple. Hours later, Singh watched her succumb to bullet wounds along with his wife and father. “She kept shouting, save me, Daddy,
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal April 17, 2020 Pakistani police have arrested an ethnic Pashtun rights activist and charged him with hate speech after he spoke during a visit to neighboring Afghanistan. Police official Usman Wazir said Sardar Arif Wazir, a member of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), was arrested on April 17 in South Waziristan, a
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 5, 2020 By Frud Bezhan KABUL — Ahmad Zia was sitting behind his wooden registration table when a suicide bombing ripped through Kabul’s Maiwand Wrestling Club, where scores of athletes were in the middle of a training session. The blast flung Zia, the club administrator, off his chair and into
Asia Times: The terrorist attack that killed 27 Sikhs in a centuries-old gurdwara (Sikh temple) last week highlighted yet again the continued and systematic decimation of Sikhs and other religious minorities in Afghanistan. Once a thriving religious minority, the Sikh population in Afghanistan has over the last couple of decades declined significantly, with current estimates