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By dallysingh101 · Posted
This. It's a lot more than this as well, military strategies, intel networks, manipulating narratives, decision making - just for a start. If you can perceive some of these things you're blessed more than most people who read it all the time on a surface literal level. -
Afghanistan’s last Sikhs in a dilemma: To stay or leave Community leaders estimate just 140 Sikhs remain in the Taliban-ruled country, mostly in the eastern city of Jalalabad and capital Kabul. An Afghan Sikh priest praying at the Karte Parwan Gurdwara temple in Kabul [Mohd Rasfan/AFP] Published On 20 Jan 202220 Jan 2022 The caretaker of Kabul’s last Sikh temple stands looking at the cavernous hall where throngs once gathered in worship. Only a handful are left now. “Afghanistan is our country, our homeland,” said Gurnam Singh. “But we are leaving out of sheer hopelessness.” In the 1970s, Afghanistan’s Sikh population numbered 100,000, but decades of conflict, poverty and intolerance have driven almost all of them into exile. The Soviet occupation, subsequent Taliban regime and bloody military intervention by the United States winnowed their numbers to just 240 last year, according to figures kept by the community. After the Taliban returned to power in August, opening the newest chapter in Afghanistan’s dark history, a fresh wave of Sikhs fled the country. Today, Gurnam Singh estimates just 140 remain, mostly in the eastern city of Jalalabad and in Kabul. An Afghan Sikh priest carrying the Guru Granth Sahib at the Karte Parwan Gurdwara in Kabul [Mohd Rasfan/AFP] Some of the remaining devotees trickle into the Karte Parwan Gurdwara temple to pray on a recent wintry morning. Men stand to one side, women to the other – about 15 people in total. Sitting barefoot on a floor covered with thick red rugs, they warm themselves around stoves and listen to a recitation from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book. In November, the temple had three copies, but two have since been sent to New Delhi for “safekeeping”. Poverty is rife among Afghan Sikhs, and attacks by the Afghan chapter of the ISIL (ISIS) armed group are a real threat. The overwhelming majority of Sikhs fleeing Afghanistan have landed in India, where 90 percent of the religion’s 25 million global adherents live, mainly in the northwest region of Punjab. Since the Taliban takeover, India has offered exiled Sikhs priority visas and the opportunity to apply for long-term residency. There is no sign yet that citizenship is on the table. Pharmacist Manjit Singh, 40, is among those who turned down the offer, despite his daughter having emigrated there with her new husband last year. “What would I do in India?” he asked. “There is no job or house there.” Among the remaining holdouts, the prospect of leaving is particularly wrenching: it would mean abandoning their spiritual home. “When this gurdwara was built 60 years ago, the whole area was full of Sikhs,” said 60-year-old community elder Manmohan Singh. “Whatever joy or sorrow we felt, we shared it here.” A priest praying at the Karte Parwan Gurdwara temple in Kabul [Mohd Rasfan/AFP] From the outside, the temple is largely indistinguishable from other buildings on the street. But security here is markedly high, with body searches, ID checks and two fortified doors. In early October, unidentified gunmen forced their way inside and vandalised the sacred space. The incident had ugly echoes of the most scarring attack on the Afghan Sikh community. In March 2020, members of ISIL assaulted the Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in Shor Bazar, a former enclave of Kabul’s Sikh community, killing 25. Since the attack, that temple – and the nearby Dharamshala Gurdwara, the capital’s oldest Sikh house of worship at an estimated 500 years – have been abandoned. Parmajeet Kaur was struck by shrapnel in her left eye during the attack, and her sister was among those killed. In the weeks that followed, Kaur packed her bags and headed for New Delhi, but “we had no work and it was expensive, so we came back”, she said. That was in July, a few weeks before the Taliban returned to power. Now Kaur, her husband and three children are fed and housed by Karte Parwan Gurdwara. Her children do not go to school, and Kaur never ventures beyond the walls of the temple, the only place where she feels safe. She thinks about leaving again, this time for Canada or the US. “My son and daughters are still small,” she said. “If we leave, we can make something of our lives.” -
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