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300 Sikhs, Hindus holed up in Kabul gurdwara plead for evacuation
The people inside the gurdwara have uploaded a video online where they are appealing to the Sikhs settled in the US and Canada to help them in evacuation
Amritsar Over 300-odd Sikhs and Hindus, the minority communities, huddled together at the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Karte Parwan in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul are anxious to be evacuated from the war-torn country. Even as Taliban leaders have approached them and assured safety, they are not reassured and still want to leave.
Airport access, however, remains a major challenge for them, with armed men of the Taliban militia guarding roads leading to the facility, which remains under the control of US troops. “It takes 20-30 minutes to reach the airport from the gurdwara. This is worrying all the Sikhs and Hindus holed up inside,” a Khalsa Aid volunteer, who is in touch with the persons inside the gurdwara, told HT.
The people inside the gurdwara have uploaded a video online where they are appealing to the Sikhs settled in the US and Canada to help them in evacuation.
Responding to the situation, the Canadian government had announced, a few days ago, that it would permanently resettle 20,000 ‘vulnerable’ Afghans, including Sikhs and Hindus, who are fleeing amid the Taliban’s deadly takeover of the country. The Indian government has also introduced a new category of emergency electronic visas (e-visas) for Afghan nationals.
Sikhs open shops outside Gurdwara
Nanak Darbar in Jalalabad
In stark contrast to the situation in Kabul, Sikh shopkeepers in Jalalabad, around 150km away, have opened their shops near Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar. In a video that Jasbir Singh, the head granthi of the gurdwara, has uploaded on social media, shops are open outside the gurdwara and everything appears normal in the market. “There is much misinformation floating around the situation here (Afghanistan). You can, however, see that everything is normal and we feel safe,” Jasbir says in the video.
