Archive for December, 2021
A photo from bygone era
Posted in Culture on December 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Minorities demand recovery of their grabbed lands
Posted in News on December 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Source: Pajhwok
KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghan Hindu and Sikh minorities have held a meeting with Acting PM Aide Mawlvi Abdul Kabir and demanded the recovery of their grabbed lands.
Government Acting Spokesperson Enamullah Samangani on his twitter handler wrote visiting minority delegation reaffirmed their commitment to the reconstruction of the country and vowed to stay inside the country in the future and play their role in the state building.
He said minority members of Sikh and Hindu communities demanded the recovery of their grabbed land.
Assistant PM Aide Mawlavi Abdul Kabir said that Islamic Emirate brought security and stability to the entire country to ensure the protection of public life, including minority.
After the Taliban takeover, some people entered Hindu worship place in Kart-i-Parwan area and beaten its security guards.
The Taliban Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid then said that some people had been arrested in connection to attack on minorities worship place.
Special chartered flight from Kabul to land in Delhi with Afghan Sikhs, Hindus & Indians today
Posted in News on December 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Source: Hindustan Times
A special chartered flight from Kabul will land in Delhi with more than 100 people, mostly Afghan Sikhs and Hindus and a few Indian nationals, on Friday.
The Afghans are bringing back some Sikh and Hindu holy books from an old gurdwara and a Hindu temple in Kabul. The flight, chartered by the government of India, will take back about 90 Afghan nationals and medicines from India.
A statement from the India World Forum said three Guru Granth Sahib and Hindu scriptures including from the Ramanaya, Mahabharat and Bhagavad Gita from the ancient Fifth Century Asamai Mandir in Kabul are being flown to India.
The forum further said the Afghan nationals will be rehabilitated by the Sobti Foundation.
“The family of Mahram Ali, a local security guard who was killed during the terror attack in Gurdwara Guru Har Rai, Shor Bazar, Kabul is also being airlifted and will be rehabilitated by Sobti Foundation,” the statement read.
The Guru Granth Sahib will be taken to Gurdwara Guru Arjan Dev Ji, Mahavir Nagar and the Hindu religious scriptures will be kept at the Asamai Mandir in Faridabad.
Since August, India has evacuated over 500 stranded individuals from Afghanistan when Kabul was taken over by Taliban fighters.
Minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan told Parliament last week ministry officials were in contact with the Indians left behind.
India evacuates 104 people from Afghanistan on special flight
Posted in News on December 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Source: Indian Express
India, on Friday, evacuated 104 people, including 10 Indian nationals, from Kabul in a special charter aircraft. Two saroops of the Guru Granth Sahib and Hindu holy scriptures were also flown in on the flight.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the flight was arranged under India’s operation Devi Shakti, launched to evacuate Indians from Afghanistan after the war-torn country fell to the Taliban on August 15.
“Under Operation Devi Shakti, a special Kam Air flight arranged by India has arrived in New Delhi from Kabul,” Bagchi tweeted. “It has brought 10 Indians and 94 Afghans including members of the Afghan Hindu-Sikh minority community. Among the evacuees are 9 children, including 3 infants.”
It is learnt that both the Indian government and the Afghan embassy in Delhi coordinated to arrange for the flight.
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and BJP president J P Nadda were present at the airport to receive the flight.
Puri tweeted, “Deeply blessed to join Adhyaksh Sh @JPNadda Ji, @adeshguptabjp Ji & others in paying obeisance to the two holy Saroops of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji on their arrival from Kabul with members of the Sikh Sangat & Hindu community.”
He added, “Copies of Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta, Sri Ramcharit Manas & other Hindu holy scriptures & rare manuscripts from Asamaya Mandir in Kabul were also brought back by members of the Sikh Sangat & Hindu devotees on a special flight today.”
Former SAD leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who recently joined the BJP, said the entire expense of the evacuation was borne by the Central government. “We spoke to Home Minister Amit Shah for evacuating the remaining Afghan Sikhs and Hindus from Kabul and he had assured us that they will be brought to India safely,” Sirsa said.
The Guru Granth Sahib saroops have been sent to the Gurdwara Guru Arjan Dev in Delhi’s Mahavir Nagar, while the Hindu religious scriptures have been sent to Asamai Mandir in Faridabad.
Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone, Gurnam Singh of the Karte Parwan gurdwara in Kabul said, “Nearly 120 Sikhs and Hindus are still left here but some of them can’t leave due to personal reasons. Others may leave in the coming days if another flight operates. I chose to stay back as there has to be someone to take care of gurdwaras.”
Kulwinder Singh, one of the evacuated Afghan Sikhs who arrived in Delhi Friday, said he doesn’t have any plan to return to Afghanistan. “Life in India now starts from scratch. Our priority is to find work but it isn’t easy. Some families who had shifted here last year are getting monthly amount for house rent and other expenses from some NGOs… but that isn’t a permanent solution… But it is better to live in India as a refugee than in fear of death every single day in Afghanistan.”
At least 70 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, including MPs Narinder Singh Khalsa and Anarkali Kaur Honoryar, were evacuated to Delhi in two batches of 24 and 46 earlier this year.
Afghan Hindus and Sikhs 