According to the Navhind Times it seems that many Sikhs from Afghanistan presently living in India, want to make their way back to Afghanistan through Pakistan, now that the country is stable enough for them to return to their businesses. What were up to 500,000 Sikhs doing in Afghanistan before the violence of the 90s and 9/11?
Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were predominant in Afghanistan’s unique ‘money market’ working as commission money changers, while others had shops and trading establishments.
However, after the fall of Najibullah regime, the Sikhs and Hindus fell prey to bloody inter-Mujaheddin warfare.
“For the past few years we have been trickling back and trying to reclaim our properties. We are facing lot of hardships,” the Sikh leaders said.
The Indian government however is not receptive to the idea of the Sikhs traveling trough Pakistan.
The Indian government had imposed a ban on overland entry of Afghan Sikhs following warning from intelligence agencies that Pakistani agencies were trying to infiltrate Sikh extremists in the garb of Afghan Sikhs.
Restrictions had also been enforced as after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, Afghan security agencies had come across tell-tale evidence of some Sikh youths undergoing arms training in ISI-run camps near Kabul and in northern Afghanistan.
Assuming the article is refering to Al Qaeda’s terrorist training camps, that’s the first time I have heard that there were any significant number of Sikhs in those camps. In any case, it must be seen as a positive sign when people who fled a country start to return.
Absolutely – when you’re looking at really big picture geopolitical things in developing countries, refugee flows are one of the best leading indicators of where the country is going.
And if you look at Afganistan’s flows – they’ve been impressive. In contrast to the chorus that cried about refugee outflux when the US helped overthrow the Taliban, in reality, some 2.5 Million ‘refugees’ have fled the other way – Back Home.
Wow. I had no idea that there was such a thing as an Afghani Sikh. Thanks Sepia Mutiny!
the are returning home bcoz they have no other option left. Indian govt should help the Sikh & Hindu families in afghanistan, so that they can settle in India. due to lack of help from us they are forced to move back to earn their livelihood & provide their families proper fodd. but bieleve me they are not happy living there. as its not easy for a non-muslim to survive there.
The Sikhism – Beyond Eternity
I think that all hindus and sikhs should get out or leave afghanistan because Afghanistan is the land of real afghans not indians. So it is better that they should leave and go back to their homeland. They have a homeland or their own country too so they should leave and Afghanistan is a land of muslims not hindus or sikhs .
sophia mumtaz you need to learn about history a little bit…sikhs and hindus have been living in afghanistan before there was an afghanistan, so next time think and learn about the history of the region. and btw there are some sikhs and hindus serving in the british, canadian, and american forces who have liberated afghanistan from taliban gang banger rapists who used to run the country before…so if you want to go back to the taliban era be my guest otherwise keep your pro muslim propoganda bullshit with you….there are 150 million plus muslims living in India…where the hell are they suppose to go to pakistan?afghanistan?????….its people like you who give muslims a bad name.
a good portion of sikh jatts came from clans from areas in and around afghanistan .. like johals…just look up history of johal.OR JOHALISTAN.so tha blood of sikhs has been there for centuries…sikhs unlike others never converted to islam.and b4 they were sikhs they were jus clans of jatts from afganistan that fought and didnt convert jus becuz these fuckin arabs converted every1 else..i sort of feel sorry for tha afghans that live there now becuz there only muslim becuz there ancestors were too scared to fight tha oppressors and converted under fear..anywayz …so alot of jatt clans fought for hundreds of years agaisnt tha arabs who eventually converted all of tha middle east to islam but when they reached tha hindu kush and nwfp areas they had a very hard time.and sikhs settled in tha punjab ..tha most fertile area in tha region..becuz there smart and brave…so what i’m sayin is that sikhs have every rite to be in afghanistan as it was there home b4 any1 elses ..
its no fun being something if u know u were forced to do so…many afghans respect sikhs for there bravery..but there r alwayz haters that hate tha fact taht they’re families had to convert while these sikhs didnt bak in tha day and they’re still around..haha.anywayz to whoever doesnt know about ur family history ..start with lookin at ur family name b4 eg. history of johal or history of gill..ect.. u’ll know why some sikhs r dark and why some are fair skin and so on..dark becuz they have gupta blood(hindu) or fairskin becuz they r frum jatt clans of Central Asia..
It is a comment in response to Sophia Mumtaz. It is such a shame that we still have Afghans like you. What you say is proof that you know nothing about Afghanistan and if there is someone who should not be consdiered Afghan, then it should be you and not the Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is their country as much as it is ours. The fact that someone is a Sikh or Hindu does not mean he is from Indian. Afghanistan’s total population is not even 30 million and in India alone about 145 million Muslims live. Should India send them to Afghanistan then? what do u think about that?
this is reply to sophia understand human relationships.india have large muslim population.decriminations are few.prime minister is a minority sikh.Vice president and fore kept in custodymer president are Muslims.study tolerance from india.people like sophia be arrested
i dont think so honu and sikh is go bek to india becuose afghanistan is for as we are for afghanistan
afghanistan is uar mther lend and i dont think so the liv afghanistan becouse of non muslime
afghans were converted by the islamic invaders and they disowned their ancestral hindu and buddhist culture. naipaul called it “neurosis of the convert”. look it up.
To #12:
AA:
You’re correct.
im a dog from a street