Thou­sands of Afghan Sikhs and Hin­dus may have left their an­ces­tral home­land of Afghanistan and are set­tled in the West and some in In­dia, yet their heart is with fel­low Afghans ir­re­spec­tive of re­li­gion and class. Doc­u­men­tary film-maker Prit­pal Singh, now liv­ing in Lon­don, greets his fel­low Afghans on the joy­ous oc­ca­sion of Eid, with­out ac­ri­mony but with the hope that the presently vul­ner­a­ble Sikhs will be taken care of by the ma­jor­ity Mus­lim brethren in war-torn Afghanistan. World Sikh News shares his video mes­sage of Eid greet­ings and yearn­ing for peace in his beloved coun­try Afghanistan.

SPEAK­ING CHASTE DARI/​FARSI, RE­FER­RING TO AFGHANS AS FEL­LOW BRETHREN, doc­u­men­tary film­maker Prit­pal Singh echoes the feel­ings of the Sikh com­mu­nity in ex­tend­ing Eid greet­ings to the peo­ple of Afghanistan.

Prit­pal Singh, in his Face­book posts, has been yearn­ing for peace. He has been shar­ing the pain of whoso­ever gets killed in war-torn Afghanistan. He shares the pain of the Sikh com­mu­nity, which two months ago faced a das­tardly at­tack in a Gur­d­wara killing 26 Sikhs -men, women and a child and one Mus­lim pro­tec­tor of the Gur­d­wara while greet­ing Afghans on the oc­ca­sion of break­ing of the month-long fast­ing.

He re­calls how in the past Sikhs, Mus­lims, Hin­dus and oth­ers formed the great Afghan mi­lieu and lived in a mul­ti­cul­tural so­ci­ety.  Like many Afghans, he years for those days to re­turn.  De­spite their pro­gres­sive and peace­ful lives in the West, Prit­pal Singh tells WSN, “Many Afghan Sikhs and Hin­dus pray that peace comes sooner than later in Afghanistan.”

As the vul­ner­a­ble 650 odd re­main­ders of the thou­sands of Sikhs in Afghanistan wait with bated breath to leave their homes and busi­nesses to mi­grate to In­dia, Canada, USA, Aus­tralia or where, Prit­pal Singh, like all Sikhs world­wide -in­di­vid­u­ally and col­lec­tively, are wor­ried about their safety and se­cu­rity.

When a hos­pi­tal was at­tacked a few days ago, Prit­pal Singh wrote, “We should not have to say that women and ba­bies must not be killed. Yet we must.” A hu­man­ist to the core, the young doc­u­men­tal­ist prays and ex­presses con­cern not only for the Sikhs but other Afghans too.

𝘞𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘛𝘰 𝘈𝘴𝘬 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘉𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥. 𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘞𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘵

An at­tack on a ma­ter­nity ward in Kabul left at least 16 in­fants with­out their moth­ers. #IRaise­MyVoice­ForThem https://​t.co/​lPQZp­s5A8R

— The­Dutch­Sikh (@The­Dutch­Sikh1) May 16, 2020

With roots in Afghanistan, Prit­pal Singh through his doc­u­men­taries –Mis­sion Afghanistan and Hin­dukush to Thames has un­rav­elled the his­tory of his coun­try and the re­mark­able co­ex­is­tence that the com­mu­ni­ties en­joyed till re­cently. These films pro­vide a first-per­son ac­count of the life and times of the Sikhs and Hin­dus in Afghanistan and be­yond to their new homes in the West. Mak­ing these films at great risk, he has shown tra­di­tional Afghani grit and de­ter­mi­na­tion.

Wel­come to Kabul via Southall, Lon­don

Con­grat­u­lat­ing the Mus­lim world on Eid-al-Fitr, it is time for all of us to join them in prayer for joy and peace to re­turn to all world com­mu­ni­ties plagued by the COVID19 pan­demic.