On March 25, an IS-Khorasan suicide bomber attacked a gurdwara in Kabul, killing 25 Sikhs.
Washington:
An influential US congressman praised India for granting refugee status to Afghanistan’s Sikhs and Hindus and urged the Trump administration to do the same for persecuted religious minorities in the war-torn country.
The Foreign Office said on Thursday that there had been a recent wave of attacks on Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan by terrorists at the request of their “external backers” and that India had provided the necessary visas to members of these communities who wanted to come. .
“We have received requests from members of these communities. They want to move to India, they want to settle here, and despite the current COVID situation, we are facilitating these requests,” the MEA spokesperson said. , Anurag Srivastava.
He said that once those who want to come and settle in India arrive in the country, their applications will be reviewed and processed according to existing rules and policies.
Responding to India’s decision, Congressman Jim Costa said in a tweet: “This marks an important step towards protecting the Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan from imminent destruction at the hands of terrorists.”
“While I am happy that India has offered them safe haven, there is still a long way to go to ensure their long-term safety. I will continue to advocate for more permanent solutions that will provide these families with security, economic stability and a better future, ”Costa said, referring to a New York Times report.
In April, lawmakers wrote a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting similar refugee status for Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan.
“In April, I wrote to Secretary of State Pompeo urging him to help these families and consider possible relocation to the United States,” Mr. Costa tweeted.
In its report, The New York Times reported on the statement by the Foreign Office that India has decided to facilitate the return to India of members of the Afghan Hindu and Sikh communities facing security threats in Afghanistan.
According to the daily, Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh communities once numbered in the tens, if not in the hundreds, in the thousands, with well-established businesses and high-ranking government positions. But almost all of them fled to India, Europe or North America during decades of war and persecution.
Last month, a bipartisan group of 20 U.S. senators urged the Trump administration to provide emergency protection for refugees to Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan who are persecuted as religious minorities.
“The Sikh and Hindu communities of Afghanistan face an existential threat from IS-K because of their religion. To protect religious freedom, we call on you to urgently take these essential steps to defend these threatened religious minorities “they said in the letter.
Sikhs and Hindus once numbered around 250,000 people, but today fewer than 1,000 people live in Afghanistan due to decades of persecution, they added, the senators wrote.
A heavily armed ISIS-K (ISIS-K) suicide bomber attacked a gurdwara in the heart of the Afghan capital on March 25, killing 25 Sikhs and injuring eight others.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
