New Delhi: Com­men­ta­tors and opin­ion writ­ers ques­tion the das­tardly at­tack by the Is­lamic state, whereas the Akali lead­er­ship promises the pass­ing of leg­is­la­tion for per­ma­nent cit­i­zen­ship of the Afghan Sikh com­mu­nity in Delhi.

Afghan Sikhs in­clud­ing rel­a­tives of those killed in Jalal­abad on 1 July gath­ered in large num­bers at Gur­d­wara Sahib Guru Ar­jan Dev, Ma­havir Na­gar in New Delhi to pay homage to those killed and to ex­press sol­i­dar­ity with those with the steely nerve to still stay put in Kabul and Jalal­abad for the his­toric Gur­d­waras there. 

Par­tic­i­pat­ing in the meet, Akali Dal Badal Pres­i­dent Sukhbir Singh Badal said that his party will en­sure pas­sage of the leg­is­la­tion in the Up­per House of In­dian Par­lia­ment dur­ing the forth­com­ing mon­soon ses­sion for per­ma­nent cit­i­zen­ship of Afghan Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of In­dia, as it has al­ready been passed by the Lower House. 

He praised the re­solve of the Afghan Sikhs to stay back in Afghanistan to pro­tect and serve the his­toric Gur­d­waras de­spite a to­tal un­friendly en­vi­ron­ment.

 The meet­ing was ad­dressed by DS­GMC pres­i­dent Man­jit Singh GK, gen­eral sec­re­tary Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa, Delhi Akali Dal chief Paramjit Singh Sarna and many Afghan Sikh lead­ers.

 Also Read: Afghan Sikhs killed, Sikhs protest, seek an­swers from Mus­lim world

Paramjit Singh Sarna called them mar­tyrs and he clearly said that those who killed the Afghan Sikh lead­ers “were not good Mus­lims.” Call­ing it the first such or­gan­ised and pre­med­i­tated at­tack, he said, “I think that some el­e­ments were up­set that de­spite the dan­ger­ous at­mos­phere, they could not tol­er­ate the Afghan Sikhs liv­ing there.” He said that Sikhs, Hin­dus and even Mus­lims who want to come to In­dia must be al­lowed to come and the In­dian gov­ern­ment must fa­cil­i­tate this.

He urged the SGPC to set up a fund for the full re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion of the Afghan Sikhs who may choose to come to Delhi. 

Gajen­dra Singh, pres­i­dent of the Sikh and Hindu Wel­fare Coun­cil, and writer of the his­tory of the Afghan Sikhs and the his­tory of the Sikhs there, who has been stead­fastly up­hold­ing the cause of the Afghan Sikhs also paid homage to the de­ceased. He men­tioned that so many at­tempts were made ear­lier to kill the Sikhs or at­tack their Gur­d­waras but they did not suc­ceed.

 Also Read: Sikh na­tion ral­lies for Afghan Sikhs, Akalis meet en­voy in Delhi

Sig­nif­i­cantly, the Afghan en­voy to In­dia Shaida Mo­ham­mad Ab­dali, who was also pre­sent as­sured the Afghan Sikh com­mu­nity of full co­op­er­a­tion. 

Sadly these are dis­tress­ing times for the fam­i­lies of those killed. They are caught in a cleft-stick not know­ing what to do as the sit­u­a­tion turns from bad to worse in most parts of Afghanistan. 

In many cases the moth­ers, wives and sis­ters whose lives have been shat­tered are scared to go there even for the last rites of their beloved ones.

Once again, the World Sikh News joins the Sikh na­tion joins in prayer and deeply ap­pre­ci­ates the moun­tain­ous re­silience of Afghan Sikhs.

In a di­rect ad­dress to the Is­lamic State lead­er­ship who has claimed re­spon­si­bil­ity for killing the 17 Sikhs and Hin­dus in Afghanistan, ace com­men­ta­tor Swaran­bir Singh in a YouTube video, has ques­tioned their cow­ardly act and ques­tioned their un­der­stand­ing of the tenets of Is­lam. He has con­fronted them and asked them, “Do you think that killing in­no­cent Sikhs and Hin­dus takes you close to Al­lah? An­swer­ing the ques­tion he says, “No it takes you away from God.” 

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Ex­as­per­ated at the in­hu­man killings, he fur­ther asks, “I know the Is­lam which talks about do­ing good deeds to take an in­di­vid­ual to heaven. I do not know which Is­lam are you talk­ing about.”