Dit Dit Dit Dah Dah Dah Dit Dit Dit …—… The World Sikh Organisation of Canada sends an emergency urgent action SOS message to the Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino urging him to intervene and save the lives of 250 plus Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in Kabul, Kandahar and Ghazni in Afghanistan. WSN reports.

Pushing their efforts to the hilt, leaving no stone unturned and allowing no room for complacency on the part of the government or the administration of the Immigration department, WSO has provided a comprehensive list of all Sikhs and Hindus remaining in Afghanistan with their contact and passport details with an urgent action request to repatriate them from Afghanistan to Canada like they are doing for Canada-friendly Afghan interpreters and staff.

Reports emanating from Afghanistan are scary. The Hindu has reported that the Taliban have desecrated and removed the Nishan Sahib (Sikh religious flag) of Gurdwara Thala Sahib in Chamkani in Paktia province. Though not confirmed as yet, reportedly, the caretaker of the Gurdwara has also reportedly been threatened by Taliban commanders. This clearly spells danger for the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus as the Taliban strengthen their hold. The only Member of Parliament of the Afghan Assembly Narinder Pal Singh has also expressed deep anguish at the deteriorating situation. 

The WSO letter to Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.CM.P., Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship states that the Sikh community would privately sponsor the evacuation and settlement of these refugees without any burden on the Canadian exchequer. 

“Sikhs from across Canada have written to you requesting your attention to this matter, as have major Sikh organizations and gurdwaras.  In July 2020, 25 Canadian MPs from the Conservative Party of Canada, NDP and Green Party also wrote to you requesting a special program for Afghan Sikh and Hindu refugees.”

The letter states that “Thousands of Sikhs from across Canada as well as Sikh organizations and gurdwaras have also called on the Government of Canada to include Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in the evacuation of interpreters and staff who assisted Canadian Forces.”

Like Canada, the USA, the UK and other NATO forces continue to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan, they are now engaged in evacuating friends of the forces -interpreters and staff who assisted the Canadian Armed Forces and the other forces.  Tejinder Pal Singh Sidhu, the president of the WSO, fearing further worsening of the security situation in the still war-torn country, has requested that as a humanitarian gesture, “Afghan Sikh and Hindu families also be evacuated immediately.”

Some 700 plus Sikhs had evacuated themselves to India after the attack on Gurdwara Guru Har Rai Sahib in Kabul last year, killing 24 Sikhs -men, women and a girl child. Subsequently, too, Sikhs have been targeted with abductions and bombings. 

Expressing deep anxiety at the situation, the World Sikh Organisation letter appeals for assistance as the situation turns desperate and the remainder of the two communities are in a vulnerable position because of their numbers and appearance. 

“The time to act is now. Any further delay in evacuating this vulnerable group will cost lives. It is a life and death situation.”

In the recent past, “Sikhs from across Canada have written to you requesting your attention to this matter, as have major Sikh organizations and gurdwaras.  In July 2020, 25 Canadian MPs from the Conservative Party of Canada, NDP and Green Party also wrote to you requesting a special program for Afghan Sikh and Hindu refugees.”

Canada has a history of accommodating people in distress and danger.  It has accommodated thousands of refugees from many countries in the past decade, courtesy of the efforts of the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Foundation. It has also benefited some 60 families the Sikhs from Afghanistan, who, after reaching India had applied for asylum after the attack on Kandahar two years ago and were accommodated.  More of them, whose paperwork for asylum has been completed are waiting for the Covid19 situation to improve and then Canada will accommodate them too. The concerned Minister has already placed this on record. 

 As the SOS call from WSO says, “The time to act is now. Any further delay in evacuating this vulnerable group will cost lives. It is a life and death situation.” The ever-grateful Sikh community has always held Canada in high esteem for its multiculturalism, liberalism and accommodation of language, culture and religious rights of the Sikhs. 

The Sikh community worldwide joins the WSO’s Save Our Souls call with the hope and prayer that this too Canada will rise to the occasion.