The Sikh Akali lead­er­ship met the Delhi-based Afghan en­voy Shaida Mo­ham­mad Ab­dali and sought as­sur­ances for full pro­tec­tion of the Sikhs and the smooth move­ment of those Afghan Sikhs who may want to mi­grate to New Delhi as asy­lum seek­ers.

After the cul­mi­na­tion of a well-at­tended protest demon­stra­tion, in­clud­ing a large cross-sec­tion of Afghani Sikhs set­tled in Delhi, se­nior Akali lead­er­ship com­pris­ing the SGPC Pres­i­dent Gob­ind Singh Lon­gowal and DS­GMC Pres­i­dent Man­jit Singh GK and DS­GMC gen­eral sec­re­tary Man­jin­der Singh Sirsa as well as Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Prem Chan­du­ma­jra met the Afghan Em­bassy High Com­mis­sioner, His Ex­cel­lency Shaida Mo­ham­mad Ab­dali seek­ing full pro­tec­tion of Sikhs in Afghanistan and a probe into the re­cent killing of 13 Sikhs by a sui­cide bomber in Jalal­abad on 1 July. 

At the global level, Mem­ber Par­lia­ment from Slough, UK -Tan­man­jeet Singh Dhesi has called the at­tack, “A dev­as­tat­ing news as the forces of hate and di­vi­sion have mur­dered in cold blood 19 Sikhs and Hin­dus in Afghanistan.” He said that the das­tardly at­tack was “a mas­sive blow for those that were hop­ing to unite the var­i­ous sub-com­mit­tees of a war rav­aged coun­try.”

March­ing from Teen Murti House to the bar­ri­cades at the diplo­matic en­clave of Chanakya­puri, Sikhs protested on the streets chant­ing “Sat­nam Wa­he­guru”. The march started with an Ar­das -a sup­pli­ca­tion prayer by Jathedar Akal Takht Gi­ani Gur­bachan Singh at Gur­d­wara Rak­ab­ganj Sahib.

“SGPC and the DS­GMC have de­cided to give a com­pen­sa­tion of Rs. 1 lakh each to the fam­i­lies of those killed. ”

As per the in­for­ma­tion shared by those who were part of the del­e­ga­tion which met the Afghan en­voy, High Com­mis­sioner Shaida Mo­ham­mad as­sured the del­e­ga­tion of pass­ing on Sikh con­cerns to his gov­ern­ment.  The Sikh del­e­ga­tion sought visas for the rel­a­tives of those killed in the Jalal­abad blast on 1 July and com­pen­sa­tion to the fam­i­lies of the de­ceased. Fur­ther­more, they asked for rep­re­sen­ta­tion for the Sikhs and Hin­dus who still want to stay in Afghanistan as they have said, “we be­long here and will con­tinue to live here de­spite the heavy threat to our lives.” The lead­ers also em­pha­sized that in case some of those left be­hind in Kabul and Jalal­abad want to come to Delhi, the gov­ern­ment of Afghanistan must fa­cil­i­tate their de­par­ture.

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

DS­GMC Pres­i­dent Man­jit Singh GK in­formed the Sikh San­gat that the In­dian For­eign Min­is­ter Sushma Swaraj was asked to talk to the Afghan gov­ern­ment at the high­est level and seek pro­tec­tion for Gur­d­waras, Hindu tem­ples and the com­mu­nity of Sikhs and Hin­dus.

In the mean­while, both the SGPC and the DS­GMC have de­cided to give a com­pen­sa­tion of Rs. 1 lakh each to the fam­i­lies of those killed. 

The Global Sikh Coun­cil Pres­i­dent Kan­waljit Kaur has asked for im­me­di­ate US state de­part­ment in­ter­ven­tion through the of­fices of the US en­voy to the UN -Ms. Nikki Ha­ley. They have also sought full pro­tec­tion for the Sikhs and Hin­dus in Afghanistan. 

The Sikh Fed­er­a­tion UK, var­i­ous Gur­d­wara Sahibs in the UK and the Afghan-Sikh dom­i­nated Gur­d­wara Sahib Guru Nanak Dar­bar of Long Is­land, Hicksville, New York have strongly con­demned the killing of the Sikhs. They are also hold­ing Ak­hand Path -un­in­ter­rupted read­ing of the Guru Granth Sahib in ho­n­our of those who were killed in Jalal­abad.

The Sikh Coun­cil of Aus­tralia from Syd­ney has writ­ten let­ters to the Aus­tralian For­eign Min­is­ter Julie Bishop and Im­mi­gra­tion Min­is­ter Pe­ter Da­ton reg­is­ter­ing their protest of the killing of Sikhs and Hin­dus in Afghanistan. The Coun­cil gen­eral sec­re­tary Bawa Singh has ap­pealed to Sikh Aus­tralians to come out in whole-hearted sup­port of the Afghan Sikhs.

Singh Sabha Mum­bai has writ­ten to the United Na­tions High Com­mis­sioner for Refugees of­fice in Delhi seek­ing im­me­di­ate in­ter­ven­tion.

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Mean­while, in Jalal­abad, amidst a sea of hu­man­ity, with tears rolling down their cheeks, Sikh Afghans cre­mated their creme-de-la-creme with anger, fear and some hope writ large on their faces.