Armed ‘Islamic forces’ storm Kabul gurdwara again; manhandle and threaten minorities

GS Paul
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, October 15

Yet again, Gurdwara Karta-e-Parwan in Kabul, became the target to spread terror among the minority community in Afghanistan.

Heavily armed people, who claimed to be from a special unit of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, forcibly entered the gurdwara and threatened the Sikh and Hindu community members present.

Puneet Singh Chandhok, president of the India World Forum, said the incident occurred at around 2 pm when suspected persons barged into the gurdwara in Kabul.

The private security of the shrine and the minority community members tried to resist them, but they were manhandled and threatened with dire consequences.

“I received the distressed calls from the Sikh brethren who were stranded in the gurdwara and faced frightening moments. Around 20 members of the community were present inside the gurdwara. They expressed serious concerns and fearing danger to their lives and pleaded for their safe evacuation from Kabul,” he said. 

After raiding the gurdwara, they entered the premises of the community school that was attached next to the gurdwara where the children of the minority community studied.

Simultaneously, some of the intruders also raided the erstwhile residence-cum-office of Afghanistan MP Narinder Singh Khalsa, located just adjacent to the gurdwara.

Khalsa was among the lot of 168 Afghan and Indian nationals who were evacuated safely on an Indian Air Force flight on August 22 that landed at Ghaziabad’s Hindon Air Force base.

This was the second incident in the past 10 days, when suspected Taliban soldiers had entered and vandalised the same gurdwara premises.

On October 5, the armed persons forcibly entered the gurdwara, handcuffed the private security persons, detained the local Sikh sangat present in the gurdwara then and damaged gurdwara property, including CCTV cameras.

A 30-second video clip had surfaced on social media in which the armed persons with covered faces were frisking the drawers of an almirah, displacing the furniture.

“This was the second time when they abused the sanctity of Sikh shrine. I urge the Indian government to immediately raise the concerns of the Hindu and Sikh community living in Afghanistan with its counterparts at the highest level. At the same, the incumbent regime in Afghanistan should ensure its compliance to the UN Charter and wellbeing of minorities living over there,” he said.