Tolo News: The Afghan Hindus and Sikhs say they will not celebrate this year’s Diwali festival due to deadly incidents took place in the country recent months. The festival was not held last year either due to a deadly incident in Kabul. Hindus and Sikhs living in Kabul said that the death of 14 Hindus and Sikhs in Nangarhar bombing July, assassination of former
Al Jazeera: The war in Afghanistan is forcing people from religious minorities to leave the country. But not everyone can afford to escape persecution and seek a new life abroad. The Afghan government has said that protecting minorities and religious freedoms are part of its duties defined by the Constitution of Afghanistan. However, with the government occupied fighting
Tolo News: Members of the minority Sikh community in Afghanistan said their numbers have dropped sharply in the country over the years and that in Helmand alone, there are now only four Sikhs left, from the original 85 families. Click here to read more (external link).
Foreign Policy: As in Iraq and Syria, the long war in Afghanistan has been particularly harsh on religious minorities. Afghanistan once had thriving Sikh and Hindu communities, but today, the numbers have been reduced to only the most determined and persistent. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 3, 2018 Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan mourned their dead one day after a suicide bombing in Jalalabad killed 17, with some saying they’re considering leaving the country. Senior members of the community were among those killed as they traveled in a convoy to meet with President Ashraf Ghani, including
Ayaz Gul VOA News July 1, 2018 ISLAMABAD — Afghan officials say a suicide bomb blast has killed at least 19 people, including at least 10 members of the country’s tiny Hindu and Sikh minority, in the eastern province of Nangarhar. The victims were on their way to the governor’s office in the provincial capital of
AFP: Avtar Singh Khalsa will represent Afghanistan’s tiny Sikh and Hindu minority in the next parliament, where he says he hopes to serve the entire country. Few Afghans are as invested in the government’s quest for peace and stability as the dwindling Sikh and Hindu minorities, which have been decimated by decades of conflict. The
VOA News / May 6, 2018: Afghan Sikh and Hindu faithful have a new home just outside Washington. The AsaMai Hindu Temple, the first shrine for Afghan Hindu and Sikh followers in the region, opened its doors earlier this month during the Vaisakhi’ festival, which is celebrated by both faiths. VOA’s Afghan service reporter Mohammad
Tolo News: Hindu and Sikh residents of Paktia called on government to provide the opportunity for their relatives to return their home country, Afghanistan. From a big number of Hindu and Sikh citizens of Afghanistan who lived in Paktia province, in the east of the country, only three have remained in the province while the remaining
AP: Extremism worsened after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by a U.S.-led coalition… The tribal regions were gradually overtaken by Taliban and in 2013 several Sikhs were killed, their limbs severed. The brutality of the killings and the threats sent thousands fleeing Pakistan. Click here to read more (external link).