Afghanistan: Taliban imposes strict restrictions on nation’s minorities

There have been grave fears that a few of Afghanistan’s tiny non-Muslim communities would disappear when the Taliban took energy two years again in August 2021. Those worries are actually coming to life.

The nation’s last-known Jew escaped quickly after the autumn of Kabul. The Sikh and Hindu communities, in the meantime, are estimated to include no various households now. Many of them have been pressured to flee Afghanistan due to the Taliban’s strict restrictions which embody their look and the prohibition on celebrating their non secular holidays in public.

Fari Kaur, one of many final remaining Sikhs within the capital, Kabul acknowledged, “I cannot go anywhere freely.” She made reference to the Taliban’s directive that each one ladies should put on the all-encompassing burqa or niqab when they’re outdoors. “I’m obliged to appear like a Muslim so that I can’t be recognised as a Sikh”, she mentioned.

A suicide assault within the japanese metropolis of Jalalabad in 2018 that focused Sikhs and Hindus resulted within the demise of her father. According to accounts, as much as 1,500 Sikhs, together with Kaur’s mom and sisters left Afghanistan because of the incident. However, she was unwilling to go away and remained in Kabul to finish her schooling which was her father’s dream.

When Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-Okay) terrorists struck a Sikh temple in Kabul in March 2020, twenty-five worshippers have been massacred. Most of the minority’s survivors departed the nation after the brutal episode. Fari Kaur continued to remain there, however now, greater than two years after the Taliban seized energy, she famous that the dearth of non secular freedom imposed by the extremists pressured her to search for asylum overseas.

Kaur revealed, “We have not celebrated our key festivals since the Taliban returned to power. We have very few community members left behind in Afghanistan. We cannot even look after our temples.”

There have been round 100,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan within the Eighties. However, many have been pushed out by the battle that began in 1979 and the escalating persecution. The Taliban and rival Islamist organisations vowed to defend minorities all through the civil battle within the Nineties, however many Sikhs and Hindus got here to India after their properties and companies have been misplaced.

When the Taliban initially got here to energy between 1996 to 2001, they proclaimed that each one Sikhs and Hindus within the nation must put on yellow badges which sparked outrage around the globe. They have been forbidden from setting up new temples and have been additionally required to pay a selected tax referred to as jaziya which was traditionally levied on non-Muslim topics by Muslim monarchs.

However, the minorities have been supplied with the identical rights as different Afghan nationals after the United States-led invasion in 2001 they usually additionally obtained seats within the nation’s parliament.

The Taliban made an effort to allay the issues of Afghans who weren’t Muslims after gaining authority for the second time. Their members visited Sikh and Hindu temples in an effort to try to reassure those that managed to outlive within the communities of their dedication to their security and well-being. However, the cruel constraints on them have compelled many to go away their nation of origin.

Many of the Sikhs and Hindus from Afghanistan who’ve emigrated to India now stay in abject poverty. Chabul Singh, a 57-year-old Sikh man who left his homeland together with his spouse and two sons some years in the past mentioned, “We abandoned our country out of extreme desperation.” The household at present resides outdoors of New Delhi, the place he and his youngsters work odd jobs to make ends meet.

Singh mentioned, “In Afghanistan, our distinctive turbans gave us away, and we were killed both by the Taliban and Daesh (Arabic moniker of IS-K).”

The state of affairs for non secular minorities in Afghanistan, together with Hindus and Sikhs has deteriorated underneath the Taliban authorities, in line with Niala Mohammad, director of coverage and technique on the nonprofit Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington. She was earlier the South Asia analyst for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

She voiced, “The situation continues to deteriorate as political extremist factions that claim to represent Islam, such as the Taliban, ascend to power in the region. This exodus of diverse religious groups has left a void in the country’s social fabric.”

Afghanistan has world’s second most displaced inhabitants

According to a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Afghanistan at present has an astonishing 6.55 million internally displaced individuals (IDPs) inserting it second behind Syria in terms of displaced inhabitants.

As of December 31, 2022, there are about 4.39 million individuals who have been pressured to flee due to battle and violence, in comparison with 2.16 million individuals who have been relocated due to pure disasters.

The analysis additionally issued warning over the possible improve in worldwide displacement throughout the next 30 years. Additionally, Afghan individuals have been leaving their properties due to poverty, insecurity and turmoil within the nation