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A group of 30 Afghan Sikhs arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday, part of an exodus by members of the minority community caused by repeated terrorist attacks.
“The situation is worsening day by day … terrorism is the main problem," Mahendra Singh, one of the Afghan Sikhs, told local media after arriving in the Indian capital. "The situation has been like this forever … they are targeting Sikhs, non-Muslims.”
The group came from Jalalabad city, in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar where the local branch of ISIS established a foothold in 2015.
They are staying at a Sikh temple in Delhi and will be settled in various Indian cities, said Vikramjit Singh Sahney, an Indian parliamentarian and president of World Punjabi Organisation, an NGO that supports the relocation of Sikhs from Afghanistan.
“We offered to bring them at our cost … it is devastating to leave one’s home, it reminds me of Partition," Mr Sahney told The National, referring to the mass migration of Hindus and Muslims between India and the newly created state of Pakistan at the end of British colonial rule.
"They had their life, their jobs … the legacy of Sikhs is coming to an end in Afghanistan."
His group and other Sikh organisations had teamed up to bring about two dozen Afghan Sikhs from Kabul to New Delhi last month.
He said there were only about 85 Sikhs still in Afghanistan, of whom 61 were waiting for the Indian government to approve their online visa applications.
https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/worl...sedgntp&cvid=eb715df5e3c14c08b11d1ea7c53618c0
“The situation is worsening day by day … terrorism is the main problem," Mahendra Singh, one of the Afghan Sikhs, told local media after arriving in the Indian capital. "The situation has been like this forever … they are targeting Sikhs, non-Muslims.”
The group came from Jalalabad city, in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar where the local branch of ISIS established a foothold in 2015.
They are staying at a Sikh temple in Delhi and will be settled in various Indian cities, said Vikramjit Singh Sahney, an Indian parliamentarian and president of World Punjabi Organisation, an NGO that supports the relocation of Sikhs from Afghanistan.
“We offered to bring them at our cost … it is devastating to leave one’s home, it reminds me of Partition," Mr Sahney told The National, referring to the mass migration of Hindus and Muslims between India and the newly created state of Pakistan at the end of British colonial rule.
"They had their life, their jobs … the legacy of Sikhs is coming to an end in Afghanistan."
His group and other Sikh organisations had teamed up to bring about two dozen Afghan Sikhs from Kabul to New Delhi last month.
He said there were only about 85 Sikhs still in Afghanistan, of whom 61 were waiting for the Indian government to approve their online visa applications.
https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/worl...sedgntp&cvid=eb715df5e3c14c08b11d1ea7c53618c0