The Sikhs and Hindu followers in Kabul said they will participate in the elections and demanded the next president to provide them with special ritual places for burning their dead, establishing schools on their own language for their children and providing them with governmental duties.
The number of religious minority was around 20000 people before the wars in 1992 however due to the violence and Taliban regime alike thousands of other Afghans they left their houses.
According to the information of the officials of the minority they numbered to 5000 almost three years ago but due to unemployment and other problems this number has reduced to 3000.
They said they had no problem before the Mujahideen came to power and like other citizens they had peaceful lives, but their problems began with beginning of the Mujahideen regime.
The Sikhs and Hindus are mainly busy in businesses such as cloths selling, shop keeping and
The minority lived mainly in Kabul, Ghazni, Kandahar, and Khost and …. Other provinces; however after the wars in the country the rich families of these minorities left Afghanistan but the poor still live in Afghanistan.
They have no representative in the provincial council and lower house of the parliament but they have a selected senator in the upper house of the parliament.
This report is recently prepared based on the interviewees done with six Sikhs and Hindus and a female on elections in Kabul.
Senator: Lack of schools on mother tongue
Awthar Singh representative of Sikh and Hindus appointed to the upper house as senator told Pajhwok Afghan News that they needed schools on mother tongue for their children, special places for burning their dead and shelter. They needed Daramsal (Indian Worshiping place) but this year the Karte Parwan Daramsal and the one in Jalalabad were at risk government has a plan to implement there, she worried.
They will participate in the elections, she said adding:"we want security, peace, equality and national unity from the next president; we want to be awarded the rights entitled to our Muslim brothers."
Anar Kali: Candidates have no plans for Sikhs and Hindus
Anar Kali Hunaryar stafer of Independent Human Rights Commission said they will participate in the elections, but she complained from the candidates, adding none of the candidates have any plans for the religious minority and none mentioned the minority during their speeches.
She said the Sikhs and Hindus had no high positions in the government, she said their presence should be considered based on merits in the governmental positions.
Swander Singh: No attention has been paid to the problems
27-years-old Swander Singh who runs a shop in Kabul-Mandawi said he will vote to the candidate who would solve the problems of the people.
He added the past and current government had not paid any heed to their problems and the next government should consider a place for their ritual of burning dead because they have only one such place in Qala-Cha area of Kabul city where the residents disturbs them. He said the people did not let them burn their dead with peaceful minds.
Shopkeeper: The life has worsened
Wrander Singh 42, resident of Kart-e Parwan who has three children and has shop in Kabul-Mandawi said he will vote in the elections to his favorite candidate and wants his favorite candidate to heed to the lives of Sikhs and Hindus.
"We have no representative in lower house of the parliament and we should have and our part in government should be known" he added" attention to burning place, lack of schools and shelter should be paid because our lives are terrible."
Sikhs and Hindus demand an equal right as all other citi9zens of the country and should be provided with education and work facilities, Wrander singh added.
There is school on their mother tongue for their children and their children are insulted by other students in schools therefore they don’t enthusiastically attend schools, he worried.
Pandit: Education with mother tongue medium is essential
Narendar Singh the preacher of Joy-Sheer Daramsal who is 42 and fathers three children said he had participated in the past elections and will vote in the coming elections, but there has come no change in their life in the last five years.
Alike others in his minority, he asked the next president to facilitate education for them in hindi language, he added, education in mother tongue was a constitutional right of all citizens thus they should be provided with this facility.
Representative: we have no burning place for our dead
Arman Singh a shopkeeper in Mandawi and representative of Sikhs and Hindus in ShorBazar area of Kabul city who is 38 and father of six children. He said he will participate in the elections and want the next president to serve them as he serves the muslims.
He complained they had no special place for burning their dead.
"As a child needs mother milk similarly we need a place for burning our dead." He added: "now when we want to burn our dead people oppose us with arms and sticks, while we didn’t have this problem before the wars in Kabul."
If the government does not solve the problem of the Sikh and Hindus, it should expel the entire (Hindu and Sikhs) minority from this country.