Attacks against Sikhs in Afghanistan: another nail in the coffin of a once thriving community

On 25 March 2020, armed bombers attacked the prominent Sikh housing complex and temple- Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in Kabul, killing 25 and injuring 8 others. On the subsequent day, another blast took place near the Sikh crematorium of the city injuring a child and disrupting the funerary services of the community. The attacks took place even as Afghanistan, which borders Iran – a country suffering from the deadly coronavirus – is also beginning to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was reported that "Three suicide bombers entered a dharamsala," referring to a sanctuary area in the temple compound, where around 200 worshippers were praying at approximately 7:45am. The attackers were heavily armed, they threw grenades and started shooting indiscriminately at the crowd. Afterwards, the attackers took hostages inside the building and exchanged fire with the security forces. Eventually, all three attackers were killed and around 80 hostages were rescued. The siege lasted 6 hours.

ISIS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ATTACKS

According to SITE intelligence group, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. The Amaq News Agency, Islamic State’s reporting wing claimed that the attack was intended to avenge India’s maltreatment of Muslims in Kashmir. The Agency identified Abu Khalid-al-Hindi, an Indian citizen as the main terrorist responsible for the attack.

The recent attacks are a part of a larger pattern of systemic political and social marginalisation of Hindu and Sikh communities in Afghanistan. Since the civil war in the early 1990s there have been instances of destruction of numerous Sikh temples and even a primary school. Hindus and Sikhs, once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, now stand at a measly couple of hundred families in Afghanistan, with the rest having migrated to India or to western countries. The communities are frequently attacked, mostly by the Taliban which continues to wage violent attacks as leverage, despite signing a peace deal with the United States that was expected to lower the rate of bloodshed in Afghanistan.

GENERAL TREATMENT OF MINORITY COMMUNITIES IN AFGHANISTAN HAS BEEN APPALLING

In Kabul, the community has been ostracised by mainstream clerics as ‘kaffirs’ or non-believers and Sikhs have also been the victims of a series of land-grabs. Their receding position in the society is best exemplified by the difficulty faced by them in holding funeral ceremonies which are prohibited by Islam. The funeral processions often face hurling of stones and insults by members of the majority. Attempts at political upliftment of the community have also failed. The new Afghan Constitution which was drafted to imitate some of the best models of the world is still inadequate to support a pluralistic model of democracy.

Article 62 of the Afghan Constitution prohibits non-Muslim Afghans from becoming president of the country. Additionally, the courts that operate on laws emulating Islamic religious law are many a times unsuited to the needs of the religious minorities. President Karzai in 2013 proposed a decree calling for reservations of parliamentary seats for Hindus and Sikhs to provide them with the much-needed political representation. But even that fell flat when the parliament rejected the measure by a vote of 73 to 51 on the grounds that Article 22 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination or special privileges for any single group.

The recent attacks represent a breaking point for many in the community who claim that they are “tired of living in Afghanistan.” The community has been mourning the death of loved ones and has asked for investigation of the attacks. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has condemned the happenings, saying that the attack on the religious sites shows the extreme weakness of the enemy and that religious sites should not be vulnerable to violence.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

The UN Security Council has also issued a statement condemning “in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack" that took place in Shor Bazar area.” The United Nations mission in Afghanistan, echoing a global call by the U.N. secretary general made on Monday, asked Afghan parties to reduce violence and work toward a cease-fire so they could tackle “the looming health crisis posed by Covid-19.”

Tanushree is a Masters candidate at Leiden University specialising in Public International Law. She is also a Research Assistant at the Public International Law & Policy Group, a pro-bono firm. With a keen interest in history, poetry and conflict studies, she is working to build a career in international human rights law and advocacy.

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