Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan flee abuses

KABUL: On a bright day in downtown Kabul, Jagtar Singh Laghmani was in his traditional herb shop when a man turned up, drew a knife and told him to convert to Islam

KABUL: On a bright day in downtown Kabul, Jagtar Singh Laghmani was in his traditional herb shop when a man turned up, drew a knife and told him to convert to Islam or he would cut his throat. Only bystanders and other shopkeepers saved his life.

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The incident was the latest attack on a dwindling community of Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan, which is struggling with growing insecurity caused by an Islamist insurgency and economic woes.

Once a thriving minority, only a handful of Sikh and Hindu families remain. Many have chosen to flee the country of their birth, blaming growing discrimination and intolerance. “This is how we begin our day - with fear and isolation. If you are not a Muslim, you are not a human in their eyes,” said Jagtar Singh, speaking in his tiny shop in the bustling centre of Kabul. “I don’t know what to do or where to go.”

For centuries the two communities played a prominent role in merchant trade and money lending in Afghanistan, although today they are known more for medicinal herb shops.

According to Avtar Singh, chairman of the national council of Hindus and Sikhs, the community now numbers fewer than 220 families, compared with around 220,000 members before the collapse of the Kabul government in 1992.

Once spread across Afghanistan, the community is now concentrated in eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Ghazni, and capital Kabul. Although Afghanistan is almost entirely Muslim, its constitution, in theory, guarantees the right of minority religions to worship freely. But as the conflict drags on, conditions were worse than under the Taliban, which imposed Islamic laws, held public executions and banned girls from schools.