The remaining Minority Community of Afghan Hindus/ Sikhs in Afghanistan are facing big Problems:
– They donot have a Cremation Ground.
– The Children can not visit a proper School.
– They Community are being discriminated & persecuted from Local Muslims.
The Hindus in Kabul and Kandahar suffer from not having a proper area for cremation and are forced to move the bodies to other provinces and even across the border at some instances.
According to their religious rituals, the bodies of children above two years of age are to be burnt whereas younger than that is to be buried.
For centuries, the Hindu and Sikh communities have been living in the capital as well as the other provinces of Afghanistan and possess Afghan nationality.
They are facing this problem since four years. For 120 years they performed cremation in the Qalacha area of Kabul but now the residents of that area do not allow it and they have to move the bodies to Ghazni, Khost and Nangarhar provinces and even to Peshawar city in Pakistan.
This issue was addressed to the government, the Municipality of Kabul, police, Ministry of Hajj and Pilgrimage and the Parliament but till now, no proper area has been given to them.
In 2005, they took two bodies from Kabul to Khost province, two other bodies to Jalalabad city in 2006 and another two bodies in 2007 to Ghazni province for cremation.
Some times back they took a body to Qilacha area for cremation but the people didn’t allow them and they were forced to take it to one of the deserts in the Char Asyab district of Kabul. This problem was also faced by the Hindus and Sikhs of Kandahar who are even insulted by people.
a delegation met Hamid Karzai in 2003 and he ordered the Kabul Municipality to give a land to them for cremation but it is pending till today. They were given a land in the Pul-e-Charkhi area of Kabul but later it was found out that it belonged to the Kochi tribe.
In 2003 they were promised 10 hectares of land from the Ministry of Hajj and Pilgrimage but they have not fulfilled their promise till now.
Father in law of Mr.Jugandir Singh of De Afghanan area of Kabul with a grocery shop died last year but the residents of Qalacha area didn’t allow his cremation. It was only after a demonstration and with police enforcement that they finally managed to do it there
A number of residents of Qalacha area confirmed that there was a land for cremation but now due to the influx of population, people don’t want bodies to be burned near their homes.
The Kids in Kabul / Khandahar have no rights to visit the Schools, Hindu and Sikh communities said their children were being forced to drop out of state schools because of bullying.
When the children go to the government schools, they face problems. The children of Muslim brothers don’t know who we are. They hate our children. For instance, some of them cut off our children’s hair, while others make fun of them. They regard them as strangers, not as Afghans.
Our Community living in Afghanistan is not recognized from Local Residense as Afghans, They are being discriminating through Local Muslims.
Source : Petition online
