On Tuesday, the Taliban desecrated Kabul’s main Sikh temple and arrested several worshipers, the Indian newspapers reported. Several armed Taliban fighters forced their way into the shrine, broke open doors and destroyed security cameras.
The temple offered refuge to a couple of hundred Hindus and Sikhs who abandoned their homes since the Taliban took over the country. “Soon after the Taliban marched into Kabul on August 15, hundreds of members of the Sikh and Hindu minorities had taken refuge” in the temple, Indian newspaper the Hindustan Times reported.
The Taliban are preventing Afghanistan’s remaining Hindus and Sikhs from leaving for India. The Hindu-majority country has offered asylum to Afghanistan’s religious monitories, including Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians. “Nearly 240 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were, however, barred from entering Kabul airport to board the last military evacuation flight from the Afghan capital,” the daily confirmed.
The Indian broadcaster New Delhi Television (NDTV) reported the incident at the Kabul Sikh temple:
A group of unidentified heavily armed Taliban officials on Tuesday entered Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul and vandalized the holy shrine and as per reports took several people under their custody.”I have received alarming reports from Kabul. A group of unidentified heavily armed Taliban officials have entered Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul,” said Puneet Singh Chandhok, President, Indian World Forum.”They have taken the community present in the Gurdwara into custody. It is being alleged by the locals on the ground that the officials have broken off the CCTV cameras of the Gurdwara and vandalising the Gurdwara currently,” added Mr Chandhok.Meanwhile, the local Gurdwara management is rushing to the spot and the number of officials and people present in the vicinity is yet to be confirmed.Karte Parwan Gurdwara is located in northwestern Kabul, Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s tiny Sikh community has long been in the cross hairs of the Taliban. In March 2020, a group of Taliban gunmen attacked another Sikh temple in Kabul, killing 25 worshipers.
The attack comes as the Taliban leadership amps up its rhetoric against the Kuffar, or the non-believers. On Tuesday, a senior Taliban leader paid homage at the tomb of a Muslim warlord who invaded India and destroyed one of the holiest Hindu temple in the eleventh century. The Taliban’s Anas Haqqani, who is also the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, praised the warlord “Ghaznavi (May the mercy of Allah be upon him)” who “smashed the idol of Somnath” temple.
Taliban’s recent actions have alarmed New Delhi, which is fearful of Afghanistan turning into a haven for Indian jihadi groups. The Islamic terrorists have killed more than 40,000 Indian soldiers and civilians in recent decades. Many of these Islamic terrorist groups have ties with the Taliban.
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