India thanks government for helping to secure release of kidnapped Sikh leader

India on Saturday thanked the Afghanistan government and tribal elders for their efforts to ensure the safe release of a Sikh leader who had been kidnapped last month. 

Nidan Singh Sachdeva, a leader of the Hindu and Sikh minorities in Afghanistan, had been kidnapped in Chamkani district in Paktia province on June 22. 

Following the release of Singh, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement: “We convey our appreciation to the Government of Afghanistan and tribal elders from the area, whose efforts secured the return of Mr. Nidan Singh.

“The targeting and persecution of minority community members by terrorists at the behest of their external supporters remain a matter of grave concern,” the statement read.

India’s government also said that it had recently taken a decision to “facilitate the return of Afghan Hindu and Sikh community members facing security threats in Afghanistan to India.”

The kidnapping of Singh came just months after the March temple attack in Kabul that killed dozens of Sikhs.

At the time, the Afghan government said they are doing their best to protect the Sikh community from militant attacks.

“The Afghan Security Council has started some measures and they will take serious actions for their security,” Dawa Khan Menapal, a spokesman for the Afghan president, said.