Caste

[Guest _guru ka daas_]

Waheguru Ji ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji ki fateh.

I would like to say that what paaji has wrote about the situation being similar to of Kashmir singhs is absolutely right as Afghani Singh were not even aware of any caste system as it was non existent.

Anyway, I would like this opportunity to tell all the sangat about my personal experience. Firstly I am an afghan Singh myself and have been living in the UK for the past 10 years and I must admit not many people know about my background n they just assume I am from Punjab and I haven’t not told anyone that I am an afghan Singh. YES I have been hiding my true background.

I am not proud of this as I feel I should be able to tell people what we are about n what we are but instead I had to hide this almost as if I was embarrassed of this. I am still finding the strength in me to come out n tell people but believe it or not the people that lead me to feel this way are my own Sikh brothers and sisters and feel as if people would treat me n see me differently because that’s what has happened in the past.

I have seen many of my Sikh brothers that make fun of afghan Sikhs picking on certain small irrelevant things like their dastaars, the way they speak, the way they dress etc. I would want to ask the sangat why is there no discrimination when people see A HAT OR A CAP on a singhs or a Kenyan dastaar.

As for the way we talk yes it’s different but it’s STILL Punjabi certain words are different and also is the accent BUT SIMILAR words and phrases have been used by our gurus in gurbani. If gurus accepted us they why can’t our own brothers do the same. I personally can speak afghani Punjabi as well as "PUNJABI" Punjabi coz I lived in India almost all my life n it has never been a problem there so WHY is it such an issue here?

Aren’t we meant to be MODREN Sikhs who don’t believe in such discrimination? Aren’t we the same people who criticize racism, sexism etc n YET we see our own brothers less then us just because of the origin n the way they talk.

I just want to remind everyone that yes people eat meat but the fact is a vast majority also are Dastaar dhari I know it is a bit hypocritical as in we got the saroop and do all our paath religiously but eat mean but if we compare it to the rest of the Sikh community isn’t the majority MONE (non kesadhaari Sikhs)? But are we picking on them. Guru Gobind Singh ji himself has written a hukumnama especially for afghani Sikhs so come on we can’t be that bad.

I really hope I have not offended anyone. If I have I’m sorry but that how myself and alot of other Sikhs feel.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji ki Fateh

[Guest Jassi]

I do know that its a late reply to all the answers according to my research Afghni sikhs belong to Khatri and Arora caste and never beleived in caste, they also divide caste into the city where they belong from and marry mainly within there own community or city, you do get an odd couple marrying someone outside their community, they are religious, over confident but are very fun loving people and are predominently business mind.

[Shamshere]

I respect the afghan sikhs a lot. They have been through a hell of a lot. Look at the oppression they faced but they were still strong in their faith and never backed down. True descendants of Hari Singh Nalwa!