The Taliban regime financed the rebuilding of Gurdwara Dashmesh Pita in Kabul, which was all however destroyed two months in the past in a gun-and-bombs assault that was claimed by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), based on members of the Hindu and Sikh group in control of the development work.
“Their own people, including engineers, came here, assessed the damage, made the calculations and gave us the money,” stated Ram Saran Bhasin, who heads the Hindu-Sikh society in Kabul and is supervising the work.
“The Taliban gave 40 lakh Afghani rupees…The reconstruction has almost entirely been funded by the Islamic Emirate,” he stated, utilizing the formal title for the regime in Afghanistan. “We didn’t raise any other funds.”
At the location in Karte Parwan, The Indian Express got here throughout Afghan employees portray partitions, slicing marble panels, laying flooring tiles and giving ending touches to the centrepiece in the primary congregation corridor — the takht — the place the Guru Granth Sahib can be positioned.
The gurdwara, situated on a slip avenue off the primary highway, is now guarded by the Taliban.
The Gurdwara Dashmesh Pita Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji Singh Sabha Karte Parwan in Kabul. (Photo: Pritpal Singh/File)
On June 18, as fireplace engines doused flames on the gurdwara quickly after the assault, the Sikh holy e book was retrieved with out harm and brought safely to the house of a Sikh household within the neighbourhood.
“This is the No.1 gurdwara in Kabul, and it is our priority to have it up and running as soon as possible,” stated Bhasin, as he pointed to the scars on the large iron gate and the partitions outdoors the meeting corridor. The gurdwara can be prepared by the tip of August, he stated.
According to Bhasin, a big portion of the premises, together with the gurdwara places of work, went up in flames throughout the gunbattle between the IS attacker and a Taliban group that reached the spot.
Bhasin and a number of other members of the Sikh group, who lived behind the gurdwara and had been heading in direction of the advanced for the morning “ardas” (prayer), “panicked” after they heard the sounds of gunfire and explosion from inside”. They began working in direction of the gurdwara however had been stopped by Taliban guards as a suspicious car was parked outdoors. Minutes later, the car exploded.
“About 40 people would have died if we had not been stopped,” stated Bhasin. In the tip, two individuals had been killed — the guard who opened the gate and a Ghazni resident, Surinder Singh, who was looking for work in Kabul and ship cash to his household who he had despatched to Delhi. Three individuals had been injured, together with sewadar Tarlok Singh who misplaced his passport amongst different private belongings within the fireplace that engulfed a big a part of the advanced.
The pockmarks on the tall, sturdy iron gate point out that it took the brunt of the explosion. The gate was put in in 2020 after the IS assault on Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in Kabul’s Shor Bazar that killed 25 individuals. In 2018, a suicide bombing within the jap metropolis of Jalalabad killed 19 individuals, together with Avtar Singh, who was a candidate within the Parliamentary elections that 12 months.
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan a 12 months in the past, India has evacuated all however 100 members of the Sikh group. Three batches of Sikhs had been evacuated till December 2021, and three extra batches had been flown out after the Karte Parwan assault.
Until 2020, the Sikhs and Hindu inhabitants was estimated to be round 650. About 400 of them migrated to India after the Shor Bazar assault. Some members of the group nonetheless travelled to Kabul from Delhi to take care of their companies, largely in unani and different conventional medicines. But after the Karte Parwan incident, many requested Afghan mates to take care of their companies. Those with assets moved additional away to Europe or Canada.
Bhasin belongs to certainly one of about 15 Hindu households who stay in Afghanistan. “In this country, the two communities, Hindu and Sikh, are the same,” stated the septuagenarian, who was made the performing pradhan of the Karte Parwan gurdwara after a number of Sikh group leaders left for India.
Bhasin’s household has lived within the Afghan capital for 4 generations however lately, he despatched his sons and their households to India. Only he and his spouse now stay in Kabul.
“The Taliban have not troubled us, but these are tough times for us,” stated Sukhbir Singh Khalsa, who’s ready for his Indian visa. “We have been told it will come in two weeks,” he stated.
Manjeet Singh Lamba, who misplaced a brother, a cousin and two brothers-in-law within the Shor Bazar assault, stated that “after suffering so much, it is difficult to stay on”.
“The Taliban have told us not to leave, they are telling us that we are Afghani, this is where we were born, this is where our businesses are. They really want us to stay but these are difficult times, life has become unpredictable,” stated Lamba, who helps Bhasin on the gurdwara.
Most of Lamba’s relations are actually in Delhi. “Even if we stay, what are we going to do by ourselves? Dukh-sukh kiske saath karein (who will we share our joys and sorrows with)? My Indian visa will come soon, but I will first fulfill my responsibilities here, at the gurdwara, before departing,” stated Lamba, as he opened a thick register and ready to pay the employees for the day.
