Afghan Sikh’s evacuation flight to Delhi postponed over ‘security concerns’

Wednesday’s evacuation flight from Kabul to Delhi for 180 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus has been postponed for a week or so, the Times of India reported early Wednesday morning. 

An Afghan Sikh leader who wished to remain anonymous told the Times: “I don’t think there could be any other reason for the postponement of the flight other than security concerns.”

The Times reported that Indian intelligence sources said: “Nobody want to make much hullabaloo about Afghan Sikhs and Hindus leaving the country as it could expose them to further attacks by militants.”

This was the second group of as many as 700 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus expected to leave Afghanistan after appealing to the Indian government for help following the March attack, by Daesh, on a Gurdwara in Kabul which killed 25 Sikhs.

The March attack on the Gurdwara was not the first time the minority group had been targeted by Daesh in Afghanistan. 

In 2018, 17 Afghan Sikh and Hindu community leaders were killed by Daesh militants in Jalalabad. 

At the time, the community leaders had been on their way to meet President Ashraf Ghani. 

The ongoing threats and attacks by Daesh against this small community, which number only about 700, led a group of Sikh activists in the United States to take up their cause and even appealed to the United Nations to help evacuate the Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan. 

India has since stepped in to help and last month welcomed the first group of 11, including children. 

During the 1980s the Sikh and Hindu community numbered more than 80,000 but most left the country when the Soviet Union was ousted in 1992. 

Some returned to Afghanistan after the Taliban were ousted from power in the hope that things would improve. 

The Afghan government had encouraged their return but the community has faced vicious attacks claimed by Daesh during the past few years. Today, less than 700 live in their home country.