Delhi- More than 10 days after two persons died in a terror attack on Gurdwara Dashmesh Pita Guru Gobind Singh Karte Parwan in Kabul on June 18, a batch of 11 Afghan Sikhs arrived in Delhi on Thursday, June 30.

Speaking to The Indian Express, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said that a group of 11 Afghan Sikhs landed in Delhi and the Sikh gurdwara body paid for their travel expenses. SGPC is paying for their air travel as it is very important to evacuate Afghan Sikhs safely from Afghanistan, he said. The transfer of Afghan minorities to India is being facilitated by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in coordination with us, said Puneet Chandhok, president, Indian World Forum.

The ashes of Sawinder Singh, who was killed in the attack on June 18, were also transported to Delhi where his family lives. Raqbir Singh, who was injured during the attack, was among the group of 11.

Among the group of 11 that arrived in Delhi was Ajmeet Singh, 28, who lost his father and paternal uncle in the March 2020 attack on Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib, when an Islamic State gunman had stormed the gurdwara in Kabul killing at least 25 Afghan Sikhs. Ajmeet, who had shifted his mother and siblings to Delhi after his father Soorjan Singh and uncle Sardar Singh died, told The Indian Express: “It feels really bad when you are forced to leave your own country, but everything is over for us in Afghanistan. I lost my everything there, my father and uncle both were shot dead in 2020 attack… even then I kept staying there thinking things will be better but now I couldn’t have waited to lose myself because had I died, what would have happened to my mother, brother and sister… how would they survive?”

Ajmeet Singh has arrived in Delhi after abandoning his medicine shop in Kabul. “We don’t know what will happen to our shops and businesses back home in Kabul but right now it was most important to save our lives and come as soon as visa was issued. Seeing the current situation, I have no plans to return to Afghanistan,” said Ajmeet, adding that he has no idea of how he would be surviving in Delhi and start a new life. The representatives of SGPC and Afghan Hindu and Sikh community leaders were present at the airport to welcome the group.

As of March 2020, there were around 650-700 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan. However, since the attack on Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in Kabul on March 25 that year, when 25 Afghan Sikhs were killed, most members of the community have been evacuating to India in batches.

            Source: The Indian Express