Author: Himmat Singh Gill
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 29, 2001
Khorasan of the Middle Ages and
Aryana' in the antiquity', Afghanistan has seen them all pass by. The Aryans
who left their Vedic and Avesta songs, behind for posterity, Zoaraster
the philosopher from Balkh who preached his religion a thousand years before
Christ and Alexander the Greek have at some time or the other all left
their footprints in this land of the hospitable Afghan people. Kanishka,
Babar and the Buddhists have in earlier times lived here peacefully and
never permitted a majority to rub out a minority to extinction.
But that was long long ago. Today,
the Hindus and Sikhs who had made Afghanistan their home more than 170
years ago (when Maharaja Ranjit Singh's influence extended all the way
to Herat, and when business beckoned traders to Persia), have to face the
ire of the fanatical Taliban who have decreed, Nazi style, that all human
beings are not equal and must be quarantined in ghettoes of humiliation
and shame.
Like the Jews, who were identified
with yellow stars, the Hindus in present day Afghanistan (incidentally,
in that country the Sikhs were also called Hindus as late as 1982, when
this writer was a military Attache at Kabul), have been ordered to hang
a yellow cloth piece outside their homes. Their womenfolk too must always
be attired in yellow. Press reports also speak of the Sikhs not being permitted
to wear their turbans in that country. The few thousand-odd Hindus-Sikhs
who remain on in that war-ravaged land would not be permitted to construct
new temples and gurudwaras and neither be able to live alongside a Muslim,
brother in a house.
What a change indeed from the days
of the golden raj of King Zahir Shah, when all lived peacefully and did
not ever lock- their homes. Or for that matter, even during Soviet rule
for a decade till 1989, when not a single minority community member was
ever harmed or harassed.
It is not difficult to see why these
Afghan Hindus and Sikhs are being targeted. The December 2000 UN Security
Council resolution no 1333 clamping sanctions against the Taliban, has
India as one of its co-sponsors. Yet what can the free world expect from
a religious brotherhood that even destroys the rock sentinels of the Buddha
at Bamiyan and makes their own women live like petty vassals in modem times.
Today it is the Afghan Hindus and
the Sikhs, tomorrow it could be the minority Shias and Hazara Muslim from
central Afghanistan. The Taliban, a brainchild of Pakistan, could also
sooner than one can imagine, turn their religious fury and unwelcome attention,
towards their overlord, and masters.
The Ministry of External Affairs
has rightly deplored this totalitarian and medieval attitude of the Taliban,
but much more needs to be done if those who are now stuck in Afghanistan
are to be saved. The United Nations and the community of world democracies
must unite to make an uproar and protest that will be heard across the
Khyber Pass.
What is of some concern is the fact
that so far, little in terms of concrete action has emerged from the Indian
side. Either from government, any political party or organisation like
the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee
(SGPC). If so much could be done for Kashmir Pandits fleeing the Valley,
are these Hindus and Sikhs any less important?
The Shiromani Akali Dal and SGPC,
both of whom maintain that they are the custodians of Sikh ethos and future,
have not said a word about these poor Sikhs now being virtually hounded
out of their homes. Citizen states can only last as long as the rights
and dignity of its subjects is safeguarded at all times.
Today India has a powerful ally
in this matter on its side, and which is also not happy with such acts
against mankind in the name of religion, namely America. China too, must
beware the spread of the Taliban to its Ugher Muslim dominated province
of Singkiang. If the fundamentalist streak is not averted in Kabul, there
is danger that many of the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs there could be converted
out of their faith. The backlash of such a contingency could be felt severely
in India.
If and when General Musharraf comes
visiting, Mr Vajpayee, this issue should be discussed threadbare with him
to impose some regulation on the Taliban. On its, part, the government
should open up alternative channels to well meaning intermediaries, who
could deal with the Taliban government on the diplomatic front.
How one wishes that some sort of
an Indian diplomatic mission had today existed in Kabul to convince the
Taliban not to go on this route. We have an Afghan government in exile
in New Delhi, and their services could also be utilised. Though legally
these Hindus and Sikhs are Afghan nationals, necessary temporary landing
papers and could be arranged through other friendly missions to get these
people out if they so desire. Let us act before it is too late, and the
last of the temple and gurudwara doors in Afghanistan are closed forever.
