HT Correspondent
(New Delhi, September 17)
The Hindustan Times
Every evening since last Wednesday, a large number of Afghani Sikhs have been assembling at Mahavir Nagar Gurdwara in Tilak Nagar for special ‘ardas’ (prayer) for safety of their folk in Afghanistan. They want the US to give them a safe passage out of the country before any commencement of war. They collect at the gurdwara to share information from their native country. The latest news is shocking. Most of the Sikhs in Afghanisatan are huddled together in four main gurdwaras Shera Naun, Shamim, Kotla Sahib and Baba Nand Lalji and their stock of grain is almost depleted.
Anxiety has gripped the large Afghani Sikh community living in south and west Delhi. They have been unable to call their relatives in Kabul, Kandahar, Ghazanvi and Jallalabad. The only call received was two days ago by a family in block 20, Tilak Nagar, and it was a call for help. “The Afghan border on all sides has been sealed. Pakistan has refused to allow Sikhs to cross over from Turkham border. I don’t know what will happen to my brother-in-law Dilbir Singh who is a doctor there,” said Gurnam Singh, who runs a cloth shop in Amar Colony. His father came to India about 15 years ago, and left behind a large number of relatives. While they prospered in Delhi, those in Afghanistan got caught in ethnic conflict and now are on the brink of extreme poverty. “Since Tuesday, we have been trying to call our relatives. The lines are not working,” he said. Ram Singh said they are sitting in gurdwaras as the government had not provided them with any shelter. They feel neglected as the government is favouring ethnic Afghans. Sikhs, he fears, will be innocent victims of war. Zile Singh, who runs a dhaba in Tilak Nagar, says there are about 500 Sikh families in Ghaznavi, 1,000 in Kabul and about 300 in Kandahar. Hindu families are also in distress. “He came to India in 1992 with his son. But still his brothers and their families are in Afghanistan,” he recalls. Singh used to be a vegetable vendor in Kabul. Yaryam Singh, whose younger brother is in Afghanistan, says the Sikh and Hindus there are so poor that they don’t have money to apply for passports and visa. “When they don’t have financial resources to earn two meals a day, from where will they get the money to move out of the hostile country?” he asked. In the past 10 years, their situation has deteriorated.
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