Afghan Hindus and Sikhs, by Inderjeet Singh.

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AFGHAN HINDUS AND SIKHS

by INDERJEET SINGH.

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Seeking to establish that Hindus and Sikhs are not immigrants in Afghanistan, author's greatest fault is that of sticking to comparatively recent accounts, rather than gather courage and five into Hindu antecedents of he whole region and of his own community, something akin to an attempt to prove that one's limbs aren't separate but avoiding a look at either torso or the being as a whole.

But what's named Afghanistan currently since a few centuries had a past that reaches long before alexandr invaded, long before Buddha was born, long before not only Mahaabhaarata which is now dated to before 4,500 BCE, but long before Raamaayana which recently has been dated to before 14,500 BCE at the latest, and more likely modulo n times a 26,000 year cycle for a so far unspecified positive integer n, unspecified due to being not determined yet.

The Hindu antecedents of Afghanistan reach back to an ancient past long before Vedic era, which preceds Raamaayana by several millennia.

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Good effort on the whole, but confusing level of compilation, due to lack of editing.

Also, author seems to fear a backlash, and sticks to dome bits of official versions, especially those from West.

Author takes every opportunity to make some derogatory comments on Hinduism in quoting a European on Sikh beliefs. He sees the two communities as concretely separate, something not true.

Strangely enough the title to 20th chapter excludes Hindus, perhaps due to a racist prejudice that imagines that the two - Pathan and Hindu - are mutually exclusive.

This is as false as the nazi contention that Jesus was not of Jewish descent, something not explicitly stated by church but a common enough racist prejudice - so much so, a museum in South India depicts a Jesus with typically Scandinavian colouring, blond and blue eyed.

" ... All the Sikhs settled in the towns of Hasan Abdal (Panja Sahib), Nankana Sahib and rest of West Punjab know that their grandparents came from the FATA area. These Sikhs may be known as ‘Pathan Sikhs’ in India or West but the local Pathans (Muslims) do not consider them as either indigenous or Pathan. They are considered as ‘honoured guests’ as a tribal law hence, outsiders. Their education and upbringing does not allow them to even consider that a Pathan can be anything but Muslim1."

That's racist as well as abrahmic prejudice.

Obviously pathans existed before the religion! Obviously they were part of India, snd their culture was Hindu.

"At present, there are about 8,000 Khalsa Sikhs in the capital Peshawar. Five years ago their numbers were double but kidnapping, extortion and killing of prominent Sikhs have forced them to settle in the West Punjab. The Pakistani census does not record the number of Sikhs separately on census forms. The Sikhs raised this issue in 2017 at the provincial High Courts but the census department managed to scrape through as they pleaded that they have already printed millions of forms and it would require a lot of time, effort and money to print new forms."

Atrocities against minorities are common throughout Pakistan, and the regime collaborating therein isn't surprising. After all this is the same nation thst arrested an elected leader because he wasn't of origin in Northwest, declared intentions of genocide before military sailed to infant ocean to perpetrate atrocities, massacred three million in East Bengal and systematically gangraped half a million women kept in chains for that purpose.

"The situation was so bad for the Sikhs that even in Sindh where not more than twenty Hindus were killed, the Sikhs were rounded up in a Gurdwara in Karachi, the doors closed and the Gurdwara was set on fire. Over 1,000 Sindhi Sikhs who had no hand in killing any Muslim were killed in cold blood by the Muslim refugees3. In interior Sindh, the Rajput Hindu princely state of Umerkot acceded to Pakistan and the neighbouring district of Tharparkar which had a Hindu majority (even today 40% of the population is Hindu) saw almost no Hindu emigration to India unlike the rest of the Sindh. The last of the Sikhs left Tharparkar along with some Brahmin families after the 1971 war4."

Genocides on both parts of the then Pakistan at partition have been estimated at eleven million Hindus, less than half that number of Sikhs and less than half a million muslims, as per estimate quoted by a western source.

This author is misled by paki propaganda in minimizing, excusing and justifying atrocities perpetrated in Pakistan. But numbers tell the story.

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"Mohammed Daud Khan, who was the first cousin of the ruler, Zahir Shah deposed him in 1973 in a bloodless coup. He declared Afghanistan a Republic state and became its first President. He remained at the helm of affairs until he was assassinated in April 1978 by the members of the People Democratic Party of Afghanistan, the communist party. Within a year there were several uprisings against the government and the next President too was killed by a powerful party leader in October 1979 which led to the ‘Soviet Intervention’ in December 1979."

Strange omission of the name of the last mentioned leader of the nation he claims his own, by the author who has gone one painstakingly mentioning every Sikh name he can think of!

This last leader was one who asked Soviet Union for help against the jihadists that had been exfiltrated across the unacknowledged and illegal border, Durand Line, by the 'home of islam' neighbour to the South of Afghanistan.

According to a famous author of Afghanistan origin and Afghan descent, this Soviet occupation period was the best time Afghanistan ever had had, as far as education, women's freedom and so forth were concerned.

Obviously this author has issues in agreement with US, hence his use of quotes in ‘Soviet Intervention’.

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"This Soviet Intervention lasted for a decade and Afghanistan became a battleground for the Cold War. The USA and its allies started providing weapons to the Mujahideen to fight a ‘proxy war’ against the Soviet occupation. The Soviet withdrew in 1989 and handed over the defence to Afghan forces who were no match to the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen captured Kabul in 1992 and deposed President Najibullah."

That's accepting the Western or US version of the story, instead of seeing the reality of jihadists being creation of the military base of West for use against Russia by any name, the said military base having been labelled a new nation in 1947 when India wasn't willing to be so used - hence partition.

"The above civil war affected the people of Afghanistan. The rich Afghans including Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs started leaving the country in the mid-eighties. The Afghan Sikh community was directly targeted in 1988 which shocked the community."

It's unlikely that Hindus were left inviolate if Sikhs were attacked; this was the rehearsals part of a pre-planned, coordinated assault aiming at genocide in India that was perpetrated subsequently in Kashmir by jihadists infiltrated across border by the so-called home of islam, the aforementioned military base labelled a nation at partition of India for convenience of West.

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"In 1992, the Mujahideen won the last bastion, the capital Kabul. A large number of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan started the exodus and left the country for good. ... "

That's the first time, after sticking to a lie to blame the exodus on demolition of a mosque that had been built by an invader in India after destroying a famous ancient temple, that author gives the true reason for the exodus of Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan in 1992.

After all, the said demolition was in December 1992, however infuriating the jihadists found it after having been taught for centuries that Hindus are only to be considered as objects of loot, massacre and so forth.

" ... Within a few months, when Rabani took the helm of affairs in the country, the Mujahideen factions revolted and the country plunged into yet another civil war5."

Shows their true character doesn't that.

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"A vast majority of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus have lost their homes during the Afghan civil war. Many have property papers but are forced to live in Gurdwaras as their houses have been illegally occupied by the miscreants from the majority community."

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" ... The vast majority of Afghan Sikh and Hindu places of worship outside Kabul, Jalalabad and Ghazni are now illegally occupied by the local Muslim population4.

"Interestingly, none of the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus inside and outside Afghanistan volunteered this information. However, when asked to confirm they did not deny it either. There is an obvious fear of backlash for the small community still remaining in Afghanistan. Kandahar, a prominent city in southern Afghanistan was once home to substantial numbers of Hindus and Sikhs. Seventy percent of them were Hindus and the city had eighteen to twenty temples along with five Gurdwaras known by their old name, Dharamsaal. ... "

"With one exception, all temples are now under the illegal occupation of unscrupulous elements from the majority community. Some of these occupiers claim that the temples had been sold to them but are unable to provide receipts. Ischer Dass has written that the Mandirs and Gurdwaras are registered in the name of individuals and families in Afghanistan (unlike mosques). It is alleged that two Gurdwaras in Kandahar have been sold by a couple of Afghan Sikhs themselves. The new local Muslim ‘owners’ have built additional storeys over the existing buildings. A person conversant with the Sikh values and behaviour would know a Gurdwara is considered the property of the Sangat (Sikh congregation) and only a local congregation can unanimously take such important decisions."

"On 29th December 2016, an Afghan Sikh Nirmohan Singh, fondly known as Lala Dilsoz, was killed by armed gunmen in Kunduz which led to the exodus of the remaining Afghan Sikhs and Hindus from the province. There is only a handful of the community in other cities now.

"The cremation grounds in several cities have been illegally occupied. In Kabul, the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus have to ring the police to send security so that they could cremate their dead without the local Muslim throwing stones at them. This is also the case in Jalalabad and Ghazni."

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"On 1st September 2018 a Sikh was shot at in his shop in Herat, the third largest city of the country situated in western Afghanistan close to the Iranian border. The Guru Arjan Gurdwara in Delhi, managed by the Afghan Sikhs immediately arranged tickets and visa for the Sikh and his family. The Sikh was operated on in Delhi and the two bullets were removed. He is now healthy. This was yet another case of targeted/marked attack as the Sikhs due to their turban and unshaven facial hair are easily identifiable. Before the attack there were three Sikh families and eleven individuals in total. Following this attack, only two Sikhs remain in Herat. The rest have migrated to India. Prior to 1990 many of them used to live in Herat. An area called Serai Hinduian (Caravanserai of Hindus) and a cremation ground are the only remaining remnants of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in the city now. The cremation ground has been illegally occupied and houses have been built by the majority community8. The Sikh and Hindu students are harassed and bullied in schools by Muslim pupils who call them kafir and tell them that they can't study with them. The teachers, it seems, do little to discourage them. In mundane life, the Sikhs and Hindus are often asked when they are going back to their country, India! ... "

" ... The average Afghan does not know their history well except the propaganda that nobody has ever defeated or ruled Afghanistan. For most Afghan Muslims, Islam came in the seventh century and with a big bang everyone converted to Islam. The Kandahar and Zabul province till mid-ninth century, Kabulistan till mid-10th century and Ghor province till 11th century were ruled by infidels, Buddhist and/or Hindus. The Ghaznavid rulers in the 11th century hired Hindus in their army to neutralise their opponents. Then in the 13th century, the country was devastated and ruled by infidel Mongols for three-fourths of a century. Later, they converted to Islam. Contemporary historians in the late 14th century have given accounts of how Timur’s (who ruled most of present Afghanistan) capital Samarkand was attacked numerous times by ‘idol worshippers’."

The region belonged with India since long before Mahaabhaarata era, even long before Raamaayana era, that takes it back to 14,500 BCE according to recent findings and evidence. Of course it was Hindu since before Vedic era, and couldn't be other than Hindu.

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"Babur who started the Mughal dynasty came from present-day Uzbekistan and captured Kabul in 1504 and later North India in 1526. Even when Babur had not captured Delhi, he had noted that Kabul was an important trading centre for merchants from Hindustan. Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, visited Afghanistan during this period and gave hope to the minorities living in the country. The Sikh preachers were nominated in Kabul and there are numerous instances where the Sikhs from Kabul and Peshawar came to Punjab to pay their respects to the Sikh Gurus (1469–1708). For the next 200 years until 1738, Mughals based in Delhi and Agra ruled most of North-Eastern Afghanistan and at times Kandahar as well. People moved within provinces and Kabulistan was a part of Hindustan.

"Then Ahmed Shah ‘Baba’, during his reign appointed infidel Hindus as governors of Kashmir and Punjab. During his eight looting expeditions to North India, he brought the Mughal Empire to its knees and made them penniless. The numerous British accounts from the late 18th and 19th century give references of Hindu and Sikh traders in Afghanistan. All this time until Amir Abdur Rahman in 1896 attacked and brought them under Islam, the province of Kafirstan continued to be ‘pagan’ and indulge in idol worship. Once the Amir converted them to Islam he renamed the province Nuristan. For those who think that Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan are not Afghan, they need a lesson in history."

For some reason author omits mentioning that "Amir converted them to Islam" at point of sword, coming with a posse of soldiers with intentions to kill everyone unwilling to convert - as usual with conversion to this religion.

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"The Afghan Sikhs and Hindus have received support from unexpected quarters on their ancestry. On 15th July 2018, a memorial service was held at the Afghanistan Embassy in Washington DC for the nineteen Afghan Sikhs and Hindus who were killed in a terrorist attack in Jalalabad on 1st July 2018.

"Hamdullah Mohi, the Afghan Ambassador to the USA said at the memorial service, ‘This occasion is one that brings us together to recognise a community that has deep roots in Afghanistan. For many, they often think of the minority Hindus and Sikhs as migrants from India. But in reality, the Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan are the original residents of this country’.

"The Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback added, ‘The Sikh and Hindu communities have a long and distinguished heritage and this horrific attack will not diminish that. Our office will continue to monitor the conditions faced by religious minorities in Afghanistan. I stand with you and will work toward an Afghanistan that is peaceful and secure for all its people’10.

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"Sadly, the Afghan government has done little regarding the forcible occupation of the houses of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus and their places of worship. Not a single Afghan Sikh or Hindu is currently enrolled in higher education and even in high school. This has been the case for the past twenty years and none of the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in their 20s, 30s and even early 40s are educated beyond high school. In the previous generation, we had doctors, professors, engineers and other professionals. The Afghan Sikhs and Hindus are not allowed to work within the administration and none are employed in the public sector. They are discriminated against at every sphere of public life. They are told to convert and threatened with abduction and conversion of their daughters11. Will the conversion of the minorities (who number just around 900) solve the Afghan problem? Almost 99.99 percent of the population is Muslim then why is Afghanistan still such a bitterly divided nation?"

Obviously because of paki desperation to dismember and swallow it. But author raises a wider question here, and the answer is, which Islamic nation does well if not oil-rich, in which case, is it devoid of poor citizens?

A book cannot be solution to life, however great its author.

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"Discrimination against Afghan Sikhs and Hindus is well documented. USA’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor department’s 2017 report on Afghanistan states, ‘Afghan Sikhs and Hindus faced discrimination, including unequal access to government jobs and harassment in school, as well as verbal and physical abuse in public places’15.

"The entire generation of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, after 1992 have not been able to study initially due to civil war and then due to unending bullying by fellow students from the majority community. The Afghan Sikhs (and Hindus) in their 20s and 30s whose families did not leave Afghanistan until a few years ago have not completed their schooling. Most of them have studied in the Gurdwaras and are conversant with the Gurmukhi script but have not completed their school leaving qualification. They can speak the local Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto but cannot read or write them16.

"The generation before 1992 was qualified and one could find doctors, lawyers, teacher, lecturers, accountants and other professionals among them. The following generation who are settled abroad informed that although they had studied in schools which were run by Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, post 1992, these schools were also closed as teachers and other staff had left the country. The lack of education among their children is a huge concern for the Afghan Sikhs (and Hindus) still living in the country.

"Due to discrimination, young girls are not allowed to go outside. Parents are worried about their daughters and the prospect of finding a suitable match is very slim. Education among the Afghan Sikh and Hindu women is even worse than men. An Afghan Sikh reported that his wife was denied blood transfusion in the government hospital despite the availability of blood in the blood bank. The hospital argued that the available Muslim blood cannot be given to a non-Muslim. It was only when the Afghan Sikh raised the issue with higher authorities in local government that transfusion was done."

This is caste system as practiced in islam treating everyone else as untouchable and only good enough to murder.

"The Sikhs from India and abroad who visit Pakistan tell about the warmth and huge welcome they receive as a guest. However, there is a mixed story for local Sikhs; some local Muslim shopkeepers have different glasses for Sikhs lest they are tainted! There is no concept of untouchability in Islam but it seems roles have reversed. This untouchability is extended to Hindus and Christians as well. At many places, minorities were expected to carry their utensils and in the absence of it they would be refused food and drink by local shopkeepers. ... "

Obviously the "no concept of untouchability in Islam" bit is false propaganda, especially judging by the woman legally condemned to being executed by paki law enforcement during last decade, because she took water from a "muslim well", despite being a church member.

The paki government minister who spoke against her execution was assassinated for the said speaking out, by a paki; the assassin's funeral, after he was legally punished by execution by hanging, was attended by well over a hundred thousand. He was a nobody before the said assassination.

That's - all of it - typical of pakis.

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" ... There are a number of Afghan Muslims living and working in New Delhi as refugees without being discriminated against. While in Afghanistan, the original inhabitants of the land, the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs are reminded every day that they are kafirs and not native of Afghanistan. They are asked when they would be leaving and going back to India while in India, they are referred to as Afghans!"

"The suicide bombing in Jalalabad in July 2018 finally woke up India and the rest of the world about the dangers that the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs face every day. In India, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which was passed by the Lok Sabha in January 2019 amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from three Muslim-majority countries—Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan—eligible for Indian citizenship. This means that the migrants belonging to these religious communities who entered India without the necessary documents prior to 2014 would not be imprisoned or deported and would gain permanent citizenship after six years of residency in India. This is a welcome piece of news and a big gift for the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs living in the country"

"The biggest problem Afghanistan faces is that it is a divided nation—divided along tribal lines. In his biography, Amir Abdur Rahman (1880–1901) described the political atmosphere of Afghanistan when he started his reign, ‘Every priest, mullah, and chief of every tribe considered himself an independent King, and for about 200 years past, the freedom and independence of many of these priests were never broken by their sovereigns’17.

"More than a century later this problem still exists to some extent, precipitated by the long civil war. The Pashtun form 40–45 percent of the population and all rulers and Presidents have been from this community. They have failed to embrace the diversity and are not seen to be inclusive. In 2015, the Afghan government tried to implement the biometric ID cards for citizens but ethnicity became a big issue as everyone was identified as Afghan on the cards. The intended meaning was ‘Afghanistan nationals’, but for many, the term implied a reference to Pashtuns, hence, it failed to give proper recognition to other ethnicities like Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and others18.

"In this hierarchy, the Hazaras are at the bottom as they are Shia Muslims, unlike the others who are Sunnis. They are easily identified due to their partial Mongolian features and are discriminated against. Below them come the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus as they are not even Muslim and hence infidels. For most Afghans, it is impossible to comprehend that an Afghan can be anything but Muslim."

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"The present province of Nuristan was known as Kafiristan (land of infidels) until 1895–96 when Amir Abdur Rahman occupied it and converted the occupants to Islam. The province borders Pakistan’s Chitral district to the east which is home to pagan Kalash people who were co-religionist with the kafirs. The people of Kafiristan were fiercely independent with a distinctive culture, language and religion. Their religion was somewhat similar to ancient Hinduism. ... "

Why does author, with his "somewhat similar to ancient Hinduism", seek to please Hindu-hating ignoramuses, when clearly it couldn't be anything but Hinduism? And also he seeks to distance from India by insinuation of a difference therein, by using "ancient Hinduism", instead of simply saying Hinduism. That's as illiterate as claiming that identical twins looked somewhat similar as babies!

Truth is that India has cherished and protected her ancient treasure of knowledge while it has grown and widened in consciousness, and "ancient Hinduism" can only be a younger form of grown Hinduism.

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"Alexander Gardner, a traveller of mixed-race ancestors by his own account, was in Afghanistan1 between 1827–30 and visited Kafirstan. In 1831, he joined the artillery under Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Lahore and was later promoted to the rank of Colonel and remained in the Sikh army till 1846.

"Gardner met and was hosted by an old Peer (holy man) who belonged to the clan of Nimchu Kafirs, who were the descendants of mixed unions between Kafirs and Muslims and were found ‘all-round the borders of Kafiristan’. The Peer told him that Scythia (land north of Black and Caspian Sea in Central Asia) was the original home of the Kafir race and claimed ‘one of the kings of the dynasty of Cyrus as their founder’."

"Major Hugh Pearse who edited Gardner’s memoirs writes that the full diary of this visit from Pamir to Kafiristan was lent to Alexander Burnes and was destroyed when the latter was murdered in 1841 at Kabul and his house was robbed."

Author quotes account regarding this region by some authors who travelled therein during past three centuries, and ftom the descriptions he provides, there seem some similarities with Tibet, and some assimilation of cultures of invaders.

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"Mohan Lal believes them to be the descendants of the Macedonian soldiers of Alexander but a number of recent DNA studies have stated that Nuristani and the Kalash people living in Chitral (same stock) have little or no Greek background4.

"Sir George Scott Robertson was a soldier and administrator, who is best known for his book The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush5 which was based on his stay in Kafiristan for over twelve months during 1890–91. The book provides a wealth of knowledge about the Kafirs and their culture, customs, traditions and religion. The book was published in 1896 which also coincided with the invasion of Kafiristan and subsequent conversion of the inhabitants to Islam by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan.

"Robertson revealed that ... the dominant races of Kafiristan—the Katirs, the Kdm, and the Wai—have mainly descended from the ancient Indian population of Eastern Afghanistan that refused to embrace Islam in the 10th century and fled for refuge from the victorious Muslims to the hilly countries of Kafiristan. Robertson adds that there they found other races already settled, ‘whom they vanquished, drove away, or enslaved, or with whom they amalgamated’. He adds that part of the slave population including the Jazhis and the Aroms, were remnants of these people. Robertson theorises that the Fresuns were probably a more or less aboriginal race, who either successfully resisted the new-comers ‘or were driven from more fertile regions and milder altitudes to their present valley’."

But further description exhibits absolutely nothing in common with Hinduism of any era.

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"Guru Nanak’s visit to Baluchistan

" ... The Hinglaj Devi temple is situated in Hingol National Park, Lasbela district of Baluchistan. Guru Nanak visited this place on his journey to Mecca3.

"The temple is an important destination of Hindus living in Sindh and even receives devotees from India. ... "

That limitation - "temple is an important destination of Hindus living in Sindh" - is imagined by author, logically enough since he thinks temples are local, but it's at best imaginary. Reality I'd that the importance of thus temple is rooted as far away in Hindu culture as Bengal in East and South India in another direction. And its highly unlikely that a Hindu temple of a Goddess was revered by Sindh Hindus but not Punjab. That pretty much covers India.

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"The North West Frontier Province of Pakistan which borders Afghanistan is a Pashtun majority area but non-Pashtun tribes like Hazarwadi (people of Hazara) are an appreciable minority. The region shares social, cultural and religious ties with Afghanistan. The province was renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (shortened as KPK, land of Pashtuns) in 2010."

"The region of Hazara is in the North-Eastern part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located east of the Indus River and comprises seven districts namely Abbottabad, Battagram, Haripur, Mansehra, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, and Torghar. When the province was renamed to KPK, it led to violent protests by the Hazara community. Hindus have been living in the region for many centuries."

"The Federal Administered Territory Area (FATA) is a semi-autonomous tribal region in north-western Pakistan almost entirely consisting of Pathans. It is being merged with the neighbouring province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in a planned way from 2018–20. It is divided into different agencies (instead of districts). They are as follows:

"Bajaur Agency

"Mohmand Agency

"Khyber Agency

"Orakzai Agency

"Kurram Agency

"North Waziristan Agency

"South Waziristan Agency."

"Almost all the Sikhs in KPK and Punjab province in Pakistan can trace their lineage from FATA, the area which escaped the communal violence which engulfed the subcontinent in 1947. ... ""

"As per the 1931 Census, there were 156,628 Hindus and 47,935 Sikhs in NWFP (including agencies) forming 6 percent and 1 percent respectively of the total population. Interestingly, the Bannu municipality town was a Hindu majority. The Abbottabad Cantonment was also a Hindu majority town but solely due to the permanent posting of the Gurkha regiment. ... "

" ... Interestingly as per the 1931 Census, both groups spoke Hindko, a western dialect of Punjabi. As the population of Sikhs was low in FATA, their number was stated but their language was not mentioned separately."

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Now author attempts very strenuously to assert that the two communities are separate and have nothing in common.

"Small minorities with common culture tend to stick together and the census made a note of it, ‘They (Hindus and Sikhs) bind themselves together by the artificial ties which they feel they require as a minority, and which are of even more force in their own minds than the ties of religion by which they are bound together in the minds of outsiders (Muslims)’."

This insinuation may be not entirely dishonest in thst the author could be ignorant, but its false all the same.

After all, where did the Sikh creed originate, does the author think? A shred of thought would lead one to conclude with the historical facts, namely, that this origin is in not only India but in Hinduism, no different from Judaism origins of Christianity.

In fact the parallels go far. Nanak was born in a Brahmin family, just as Jesus was born in a family of not only royal lineage but also rabbinical descent, and was a king of Jews as well as a rabbi. Neither intended to found another religion, but sought reform.

In fact, if anything, Sikh which name derives ftom Sanskrit 'Shishya', literally means disciple, and the band was intended as protectors of Hindus- from the islamic atrocities.

And this fraternity remained, until Pakistan sowed seeds of poison of separation, for revenge against the fact that East Bengal survived despite all intentional perpetration of genocidal and other horrendous atrocities by paki military, and this survival of East Bengal was due entirely to India.

Hindus and Sikhs were communities with a mutual trust - and much more, with matches and conversions arranged between. Author is confused due to a mindset that accepts abrahmic propaganda unquestioningly. And hence his efforts to show that they are separate.

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"The population by religion percentage released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics of 2017 census states that there were 0.03 percent Hindus in KPK and 0.06 percent in FATA which constitutes 9,162 and 3,000 people respectively. The total comes out to 12,162."

"The capital Peshawar which has about 2,500 Hindus has three main functional Mandirs. ... "

Author makes several mistakes in describing the temples, chiefly due to carelessness.

"Gorakhnath Mandir: The Mandir dedicated to Gorakhnath, the founder of Yogi Cult, was re-opened in 2011 and is located at Gor Khatri in Peshawar. The archaeology board outside the temple states that the Mandir was built during the Sikh occupation of Peshawar from 1834–49."

The words or term "Yogi Cult" is as wrong, incorrect and offensive, as - say - it'd be to say "nun cult", "monk cult", or "bishop cult".

The correct term is Naatha Sampradaaya, the latter term indicating the path taken by a community of monks.

"Kali Bari Mandir: The Mandir is dedicated to Goddess Kali. The word Bari means elder sister. Puja is performed every Tuesday. A big painting of Saint Valmiki is drawn on the inside wall of the Mandir."

This nomenclature is ftom Bengal and here the word is not 'Bari' but 'Baadie', originally, meaning home; so a Kaalie or Kali Bari or Baadie is literally Home of Hoddess Kaalie.

The name of the Goddess herself, Kaalie, relates to Kaala, literally, Time.

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"The Shiv Mandir in Mansehra with a white marble Shiv lingam was renovated recently. It is said to be about 800 years old and some date it to the pre-Islamic era12.

"Naushera has six Mandirs. There are Mandirs in Kohat, Hangu, Bannu, Mardan, Pir Baba, Buner and Dera Ismail Khan13.

"Ram Takht atop the Mount Elum, 9,200 feet above sea level, in Buner district is a sacred pilgrimage for Hindus who call it Ram Takht (throne of Sri Ram). The locals call it Jogian Sar (Peak of the Jogis) as before partition, Hindu ascetics would come to meditate and some would remain on site for all year round. It is said that Ram Chandra, the Hindu God came here and meditated during his exile. The temple and monastery are in ruins but the site is still visited by Hindus in the month of Savan (July–August)14."

" ... The tiger is indigenous to India and leopard is found in the mountainous regions of KPK. ... "

Tigers, lions and leopards are all indigenous to India and have always been so, in different regions. There are some that were shared by them, as well.

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Strangely enough the title to 20th chapter excludes Hindus, perhaps due to a racist prejudice that imagines that the two - Pathan and Hindu - are mutually exclusive.

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That's racist as well as abrahmic prejudice.

Obviously pathans existed before the religion! Obviously they were part of India, snd their culture was Hindu.

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"The local Pathans consider that the Sikhs (and Hindus) came to Peshawar and the region when Maharaja Ranjit Singh annexed the Peshawar province in 1834. This theory is easily debunked as George Forster (1783) and Elphinstone (1808) both noted Hindus and Sikhs in the region. Prior to them, Babur and Jahangir, the Mughal rulers note Hindu yogis and ascetics in Gor Khatri area of Peshawar. The Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan and KPK province share surnames ... "

The last statement is true of Punjab just as much.

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This author is misled by paki propaganda in minimizing, excusing and justifying atrocities perpetrated in Pakistan. But numbers tell the story.

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" ... In December 1971, in a short war, India defeated Pakistan and East Pakistan became a new country called Bangladesh. The famous photograph of Pakistani General Niazi surrendering to Indian General Jagjit Singh Arora was not lost to the locals as the Pathans formed a major chunk of the Pakistani Army. The Sikhs were blamed for the defeat and using this as a pretext the locals arrested the extended family of Ishar Singh in Kurram Agency and forcibly cut the hair of Sikh men and made them hostages. When after a few months this was reported to the family in Nankana Sahib, Ishar Singh and his brother Aaya Singh came to Kurram Agency but were not allowed to meet the family."

It's unclear if, in using the phrase "in a short war, India defeated Pakistan", is author insinuating that this somehow disqualified India?

................................................................................................

" ... FATA was autonomous ... "

That doesn't seem to have stopped paki tanks from rolling over those villages in name of fighting terrorism, although everyone knew that the military never went close to where taliban actually were, and destroyed other villages.

" ... and the Pakistani authorities were unable to intervene. Ishar Singh, his son Ajit and his brother Aaya went back to Kurram Agency and tried to win over the locals by paying money. They involved the local Jirga and a few people who were sympathetic but they were declined permission to meet their wives and children. In despair, Ishar Singh, his son and his brother allowed their hair to be cut as it was the only way to see their families. After staying there for a year and winning their confidence, one night after careful planning the whole family left Kurram Agency and came to West Punjab. ... they filed a petition in court to rescue them from this ordeal. This forced the village elders to come to an agreement. The Sikhs were asked to leave and never come back to the village. It was agreed (or imposed) that the villagers (in Kurram Agency) would not bother Ishar Singh’s extended family and he would withdraw the court case. Ishar Singh and his family had to leave all their land, orchards and house behind just like millions across both sides left after the partition of Punjab."

................................................................................................

"In 1973, Ishar Singh and his extended family, which consisted of seven nuclear families, settled in the Nankana Sahib town. This raised alarm bells among some of the local and powerful individuals who saw them as major obstacle lest the Sikhs demanded the thousands of acres of land associated with the Gurdwara Janam Asthan. Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1799–1839) had allotted land to the Gurdwaras so that they were economically self-reliant in managing their affairs. However, in case of Nankana Sahib, Rai Bhular Bhatti, the local chief and devotee of Guru Nanak had given more than half of his property in name of the holy saint. Due to this ‘fear’, the local Muslims made life difficult for the Sikh families here. These powerful locals filed a case against Ishar Singh’s extended family which discouraged other Sikhs in FATA to come over to Nankana Sahib. The local Muslims lost the case in the Session Court and also in the High Court. They appealed in Supreme Court in 1992 but later withdrew their case. They were told that they were cultivating the land and nobody was taking away from them but that the land should remain in the name of Baba Guru Nanak."

Persecution has resumed in recent years.

................................................................................................

"By this time, the Taliban were quite active in FATA and the number of Sikhs who were waiting for an opportunity to leave, came to Nankana Sahib. By 2002 there were fifty Sikh families in Nankana Sahib. After 2006, a few Sahajdhari Sikh families affected by the poor law and order situation in Baluchistan came to Nankana Sahib and became Khalsa too. In 2009 and 2010, several Sikh families left FATA as the Taliban demanded Jizya and beheaded a Sikh youngster. At present, there are about 400 Sikh families in Nankana Sahib and about 150 in Hasan Abdal (Panja Sahib)."

" ... Strangely, in Pakistan most still believe that Muslims lost more members compared to the Sikhs and Hindus during partition. Their conditioning does not allow them to believe that a Hindu is capable of killing a Muslim. ... "

The belief in two such mutually contradictory statements can only be explained by an almost blind superstition in monotheism.

" ... Apparently until the 1971 war, many in Pakistan believed that a Muslim man is equivalent to ten Hindus! ... "

Well, India did return 93,000 prisoners of that war, unconditionally, instead of massacres them - or letting East Bengal do so in retaliation for the genocide perpetrated by paki military, killing three million civilians of East Bengal.

................................................................................................

That's - all of it - typical of pakis.

................................................................................................

Something very strange is stated at almost the very beginning.

" ... In 2015, however, I discovered a Pakistani guy uploading his short videos and photographs about the little known Sikh heritage in West Punjab. ... "

What level of illiteracy is this!

Until 1947 and creation of a fundamentalist jihad nation in Northwest India, which was created in reality only for need of West of military bases freely available at any time to use against Russia or Soviet Union, history of India was of the whole subcontinent, because identity of India was of the whole.

History of Sikhs of Punjab includes "Sikh heritage in West Punjab", it's not separate, and it can only be "little known" because Pakistan and generally jihadidt lies and false propaganda pretending that there was no history or culture of any other kind prior to Islamic invaders.

"As a Sikh, I was worried that like the historical Gurdwaras left behind in Pakistan, the ones in Afghanistan may soon be abandoned."

If they were merely abandoned, that would be a historically first act of kindness by jihadists.

They could have left alone Bamiyan Buddha, couldn't they?

................................................................................................

"The landlocked country of Afghanistan in south-central Asia was branded in India by the famous movie Kabuliwala. The image of a tall and handsome Punjabi, Balraj Sahni playing the role of a Pathan to perfection, and the haunting melody of Manna Dey’s Ay Mere Pyare Wataan Tuj Pe Dil Kurbaan is etched on our minds. The movie was released in 1961, based on Rabindranath Tagore’s short play by the same name. This represented Afghanistan to most Indians until the early 1970s."

Small correction - original work by Tagore isn't a play, it's a short story.

................................................................................................

"However, ever since the late 1970s, Afghanistan has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. A relatively stable and peaceful monarchy was toppled by the cousin of the ruler in 1973 who was in turn, murdered in 1978. This was followed by the Soviet invasion in 1979 ... "

Correction:- Soviet Union only sent the help asked for, by the then regime in Afghanistan, against the Islamic jihadists exfiltrated by its immediate neighbour's to Southeast, for decades, as a deliberate policy to destroy not only the stability but also the advanced level of freedom and education that then existed in Afghanistan, and instead loot it to the benefit of military mafia across border that had executed their own leader by hanging - after they had managed to severe their more populous half by committing genocide while the elected leader was imprisoned.

" ... and to counter them came the Mujahideen (literally, freedom fighters)... "

Correction, the word does not "literally" mean "freedom fighters", but is, "literally", related to jihad.

And jihad is definitely not about freedom.

" ... who were supported by the USA, Pakistan and their allies. The proxy war continued for ten years and by the time the Soviet left in 1989 after failing to crush the Mujahideen, the country was in shambles.

"In 1992, just before the Mujahideen captured the capital, Kabul, the majority of the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs had left the country. Four years later, the Taliban, a new version of the Mujahideen captured most of the country. Their rigid and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam meant that Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan had to wear a yellow batch to identify themselves. Although the Taliban has been replaced by a democratic government, the exodus has not stopped."

What choice did they have, under taliban with their demands - as announced explicitly from mosque loudspeakers in Kashmir in January 1990 - being, "convert, die, or leave, but (leave) without property, without females"?

In all these decades, it's never been mentioned if Afghanistan Hindus, Sikhs- and other nonmuslims such as Buddhists or church members - were offered these ultimatums, too, or just subjected to threat of genocide.

................................................................................................

"The Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan, who had been living in the country since time immemorial, left the land of their forefathers. While they numbered well over 60,000 in the early 1990s, only a thousand Sikhs and Hindus remain in the country presently and are limited mainly to the three cities of Kabul, Jalalabad and Ghazni. Outside these cities, their Gurdwaras and Mandirs are now illegally occupied by locals of the majority community. Even within these cities their houses were forcefully occupied during the turmoil of civil war and most of them live in Gurdwaras and Mandirs. They cannot even cremate their dead in Kabul and other provinces without the assistance of the police. Their children are bullied in schools, called kafirs and Sikh boys are mocked as khachalu (potato)1. This happens in front of the teachers and they don't do anything to discourage this behaviour. The worst and most hurtful is that they are continuously asked when they are going back to India. No one believes them when they say that they have always lived in Afghanistan. There has been a steep decline in the fortunes of this once rich and prosperous Afghan Hindu and Sikh community.

"We have much in common with Afghanistan than we realise. The humble fruit, plum is known as Aaloo Bukhara (literally, the potato from Bukhara). The city of Bukhara was a part of greater Afghanistan which was known as Khurasan. The Punjabi idiom, Jo Sukh Chajjuu de Chaubare, Na Balkh na Bukhare means that there is no place like home. However, the literal meaning is, ‘the peace and tranquillity I find in my home at Chajju’s Inn (Lahore) cannot be found in the big prosperous cities of Balkh (Afghanistan) and Bukhara (now, Uzbekistan). Babur, the Mughal who invaded India, joined Kabul and much of Eastern Afghanistan with North India, then known as Hindustan in 1526. He also brought melons from Afghanistan to India. Sarod, the stringed musical instrument is considered to have Afghan origins2. People, especially traders regularly travelled between the provinces of these two countries in the past two thousand years and even settled there, ... "

That's a very small part of, even facts, not just truth. What's recently termed Afghanistan, for last few centuries, is the region known as far back as not only Mahaabhaarata, but even Raamaayana and before, of which the more recent and former epic is dated to before 4,500 BCE, while the earlier and latter is dated yo as far back as 14,500 BCE.

" ... then why are Hindus and Sikhs not treated as natives of Afghanistan?"

The obvious fact is the answer, that is, abrahmic fraud that seeks to deny and wipe off the face any signs of any prior civilisation; hence Macaulay policy, - and hence, too, antisemitic viciousness of latter abrahmic creeds.

................................................................................................

"The Afghan Hindu community has now established Asamai Mandirs in India, Germany, England and USA, named after the famous Mandir in Kabul. Similarly, Afghan Sikhs have erected Gurdwaras in India and across Europe. The Guru Nanak Darbar in London is one such Gurdwara established by the Afghan Sikhs. The congregation in this Gurdwara had distinct Afghan facial features, especially the kids. Some of them had light-coloured eyes and even blonde eyebrows and eyelashes, one of the distinct Afghan traits that is difficult to ignore. ... "

This is another misconception around the world held by racists, namely, that Indian people are characterized by dark physical hues, especially in South India, the misconception a false proposition held by racists against all evidence to the contrary, and shared by Afghans due to lack of opportunities to observe the said plenty of evidence to the contrary.

................................................................................................

" ... In Afghanistan, some local Muslims refer to the Hindus and Sikhs as Lala which means elder brother. However, a significant number also discriminate against them. As a minority community in Afghanistan, the Hindus and Sikhs are considered foreigners whereas they are the original natives of the country."

Certainly, they are, and in a far less diluted form - unlike those that prefer to whitewash their progeny by using brides from Europe as human detergent, as Mike's explained a Portuguese policy in one of his books.

................................................................................................

"This book is an attempt to trace the lives of Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan in the past thousand years. It is an effort to apprise the current and hopefully future generations on Afghan Hindus and Sikhs and about the journey of their ancestors. This is extremely important as almost 99 percent of all Afghan Hindus and Sikhs have now left the country.

"Almost all history records, even those held by the Afghan Hindus stop at the Hindu Shahi rulers of Kabul in the 10th century and start again from the 19th century when European travellers and agents mentioned Hindus and Sikhs in the country.

"This book has used contemporary sources as far as possible. At some places, eminent historians who are considered an authority on the subject have been quoted. Contemporary Persian, English, Punjabi sources have been used to chalk out references to non-Muslim communities including Hindus and later Sikhs from the 11th century to the 21st century. The contribution of these small communities of Hindus and Sikhs to the Afghan society is brought to the readers.

................................................................................................

"A number of theories are prevalent in Afghanistan to assert that the Hindus and Sikhs are recent emigrants to the country. Some of them are as follows:

"1) Mahmud Ghaznavi, the infamous Sultan who invaded India seventeen times over a span of twenty-five years in the early 11th century brought thousands of Hindu slaves from India.

"2) Babur joined Kabulistan with North India which led to the migration of Hindus from India to Afghanistan.

"3) Hindus and Sikhs came to Afghanistan when Ahmed Shah Durrani (1748–72) brought merchants from Shikarpur (Sindh) and Multan (West Punjab).

"4) Hindus and Sikhs came to Afghanistan in 1838 when the British and Maharaja Ranjit Singh deposed Dost Mohammed Khan and installed Shah Shuja at the throne."

All of that conceded, still cannot negate that original residents of that region, prior to birth of Buddha, were Hindu.

................................................................................................

"Babur in his memoirs states that Kabul is Hindustan’s own market. Indian merchants were trading in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan even before Babur captured Kabul. Prior to him, the infidel Mongols ruled Khurasan, the greater Afghanistan and Timur in the 14th century fought many battles with idol worshippers who kept on attacking his capital Samarkand, part of Khurasan.

"There were Hindu and Sikh merchants from Shikarpur and Multan in 18th and 19th century Afghanistan but in addition to them, the British accounts refer to local Hindus (and Sikhs) with families who lived in the different parts of the towns compared to merchants who lived among themselves without families in caravanserais.

"British accounts of 1783 and 1808 refer to Hindu traders and shopkeepers in Kabul. Also, the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs are almost all from the Khatri and Arora castes that are renowned for their business acumen. The Jats form the majority in rural East Punjab and would have formed the bulk of armed forces under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. However, there is a complete absence of Jats among Afghan Sikhs (and Hindus) and same is the case with Sikhs in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan which borders Afghanistan and shares socio-cultural and tribal ties with each other."

Presumably they were converted by force.

"Medieval Afghanistan was known as Khurasan, this was a greater Afghanistan as it included parts of present-day Uzbekistan, Iran, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan among others. However, during a major period in the medieval age especially from 1220 to 1748, the country was ruled by non-Afghan dynasties and was part of great empires (Mongols, Timurids, Mughals and Safavid) whose capitals were based outside present Afghanistan. Hence in this work, in some chapters especially for the above period (1220–1748), references are made to other major cities which were part of Khurasan but now fall outside Afghanistan. The provinces of Pakistan, namely Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which share the border with Afghanistan have substantial Pashtun/Pathan population and also share major social, cultural and tribal ties with each other. Interestingly, the Hindus and Sikhs in these provinces have a number of similarities with Afghan Hindus and Sikhs. A separate chapter elaborates on these Pathan Sikhs of Pakistan."

................................................................................................

" ... Durand Line drawn by the British regime in India. Afghanistan rejected the Durand Line when Pakistan was created in 1947 as Pashtun tribes lived across both sides of the border. Professor Ganda Singh who visited Afghanistan in 1951 reported a vibrant support for Pashtunistan (Land of Pashtuns). This issue is no longer emotive on that level, but it never died out much to the chagrin of Pakistan which has hosted millions of Afghan refugees since the 1980s."

One may safely bet that exfiltration of jihadists into Afghanistan was begun, and expedited, by various paki generals only to destroy the once prosperous and progressive neighbour's so Pakistan can keep the land that never did legally belong to them.

"Towards the west, Afghanistan borders the Shia-majority country of Iran. The Iran-based dynasties ruled major parts of Afghanistan in the medieval times until 1748 when Ahmed Shah Durrani created modern Afghanistan. In an ultra-conservative Sunni country with an almost 99.99 percent Muslim population, the Hazaras who are Shia and have partial Mongolian features are at the bottom of the class hierarchy."

Between treatment meted out to Hazara on one hand and importance given to skin colour on the other, discourses from that region leave one in no doubt regarding racism firmly entrenched in islamic societies, regardless of claims of equality to the contrary.

................................................................................................

"Sabuktigin (ruled 977–97) conquered Kabul and neighbouring areas from Jayapal, the Hindu Shahi ruler in 986 and later his son Mahmud of Ghazni (ruled 998–1030) won Peshawar in 1001. In the 11th century, Afghanistan ushered in the rule of the Ghaznavi rulers and a sea change in the social and religious dynamics of the provinces."

Author refrains from mention of genocide of Hindus that followed the conquest.

................................................................................................

"A contemporary source Hudud Al Alam gives us an indication of the extent of Islam in Eastern Afghanistan at this stage. This anonymous geographical work which means ‘Regions of the World’ was compiled in 372 AH or 982-83 ad and dedicated to Amir Abul Marith Mohd Bin Ahmed, the local ruler of Guzganan which is now part of Northern Afghanistan. The Russian Orientalist, Vladimir Minorsky translated it in 1937. The author was in the middle of revising the book when he died in 1966 and it was completed by renowned historian C.E. Bosworth and the second edition was published in 19702."

Author quotes in brief detail from the book regarding Hindu residents, temples and more of various regions and cities then in Afghanistan.

................................................................................................

"Jabir Raza quotes the great Alberuni who writes that Hindu physicians were employed by the Ghaznavi rulers. For instance, when the chief of Gardez (Paktia province) was suffering from chronic piles, their Muslim physician despite using several medicines was unable to cure but a Hindu physician was able to cure it using an Indian aconite (plant)7."

Aayurveda.

................................................................................................

"It is fascinating to note that even during the reign of Mahmud of Ghazni, a big enclave of pagans lived and ruled in the Ghor province while being surrounded by Islamic states. We are not told if these pagans were Hindus or Buddhists by the contemporary works but modern historians continue to speculate their ethnicity and background."

" ... The Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan discovered a statue of Brahma in the excavations of a palace at Ghazni that was built by Sultan Masud III (1112)10. Raza states that this discovery ‘clearly supports the fact that Hindu forms of worship were respected’."

The conclusion is unwarranted.

................................................................................................

"Peter Jackson, an authority on Muslim dynasties in Central Asia during the medieval ages has written a very comprehensive book on the Mongols using varied sources3. Jackson writes that in addition to the extensive destruction, the local Muslim population experienced the infidel Mongol rule as alien or oppressive in five aspects in particular:

"1) the importation of unfamiliar religious traditions that could not be reconciled with the Islamic dispensation;

"2) the imposition of taxation that had no sanction in the Sharia;

"3) the prohibition, in certain cases, of canonical Islamic practice or the enforcement of the steppe customs that were contrary to it;

"4) the appointment of non-Muslim personnel to higher administrative offices; and

"5) the even-handed treatment of all faiths (effectively entailing, therefore, a demotion of Islam from the previous commanding position)."

All of which shows the total intolerance by muslims of any others.

................................................................................................

"Jackson quotes that Mahmud Ghazan and Oljeitu referred to God as ‘Tenggeri rather than Allah in their correspondence with the Christian West’ (States). In 1303, contemporary sources state that Ghazan celebrated the Mongol New Year. Ghazan, however, destroyed pagodas and Zoroastrian fire temples and replaced them with mosques and colleges. Churches were destroyed and Jizya was imposed on Christians but the ruler took a U-turn and abandoned discrimination of the Christians when he needed the support of the European states against the Egyptians.

"Jackson writes that the Buddhists migrated into Ilkhanate (region included Afghanistan) in considerable numbers from China, Tibet and Kashmir after the Mongol conquest. The infidel Mongol rulers placed great confidence in Buddhist monks and built several pagodas. The earliest one seems to be at Labnassagut close to Alatagah. The Mongol ruler Gaikhatu was brought up as a Buddhist and remained so throughout his life. The remains of rock-cut Buddhist temples found near Maragha and Qongqur Uleng (both in North Iran) were built in this era."

"Verse 261 states that the Khan sent the Mongol commander Dorbei Doqshin to attack the cities of Herat, Merv (Turkmenistan) and Alamut (Iran), ‘all of which lay between the lands of Hindu people and the Baqtat (Baghdad, Iran) people’. Herat in Afghanistan is close to the Iranian border hence according to this manuscript beyond Herat (on eastern side of Afghanistan) was the land of the Hindu people. Buddhists, Muslims, Shamanists and Christians lived under the Mongol rule. Hindus could well have lived in both Mongol and non-Mongol ruled regions of Afghanistan."

................................................................................................

"The Mongols were replaced by Timur in Khurasan in 1335 that caused a lot of destruction and devastation of the Muslim cities in Central Asia. Although Timur professed to be a follower of Islam, this did not stop him from destroying his opponents even if they happened to follow his religion."

Considering how much havoc and destruction, loot, and massacres amounting to genocides had been wrought by muslims before and after him, the complaint or blame to him for doing exactly the same to them is only valid on the premise that nonmuslims do not count at all, which is sharia, not law of any other society with any semblance to fairness.

................................................................................................

"Batuta writes that Kandahar was once a big city but stood ruined then and Kabul was in a similar state as well. Batuta states that the city of Kabul is populated by people from Persia who are called ‘Afghans’. The mountains in the region are difficult to access and have narrow passes. He adds that the Afghans were ‘powerful and violent people’ and that most of them were ‘highway robbers’.

"Batuta expressed relief and thanked God when on the way from Kabul to Kirmash they managed to escape from being robbed in a narrow pass between two mountains where robbers were shooting arrows from the heights of the mountain."

Not new to that region.

"Batuta writes that they arrived at Shish Naghar which is ‘situated at the extremity of the Turkish dominions’. From here they entered ‘the great desert’ and after fifteen days they reached Panj Ab (five waters) safely. He adds that this was the ‘junction of five different rivers’ and provided water for agriculture in the province. ... "

................................................................................................

"Professor Charles Melville of the University of Cambridge in his lecture paper presented on 12th March 1997 at the University for the Indo-Mongolian Society of New York titled The Impact of the Mongol invasions on Iran, Iraq and Central Asia: A Revaluation quotes from a 14th century manuscript that during the third attack on Merv (now in Iran but was part of Khurasan) around 1222, the Mongols carried widespread torture for forty days and only ‘a hundred souls survived this’. In the end, only ten or twelve Indians were left residing in the city. One may speculate they may have been traders or residents of the city but it is worth noting that there were Hindus living in Merv even in 1222."

................................................................................................

"Timur (1336–1405) was one of the greatest conquerors and founder of the Timurid Empire which included Afghanistan, Persia and Central Asia. His battles and campaigns against the idol worshippers and infidel Jats in Central Asia make it imperative to discuss him in some detail. He also invaded Hindustan in 1398 and sacked Delhi which was then under a weak Tughluq ruler who fled away. The Hindu and Muslim chiefs tried to defend the city but were no match to one of the most powerful armies at the time. Timur’s rule (1370–1405) and campaigns caused many deaths and most of his victims were fellow Muslims. ... "

That last statement is only true from muslim point of view, which does not count nonmuslims as humans on par. Majority then as now was Hindu, and it's out of question that Hindus were spared selectively by a sadist invader.

" ... Mohammad Habib and K.A. Nizami1 refer to him as ‘one of the world’s greatest criminals’ and write, ‘(Timur) has surpassed all others with reference to the murder of peaceful non-combatant Muslims and, in a much smaller degree, non-combatant non-Muslims, who were beheaded by his orders or put to death in more original ways.’"

The authors, both Muslim, obviously were comfortable with an obvious lie of "much smaller degree, non-combatant non-Muslims".

It's unlikely unless the only possible explanation, that muslim invaders prior to him had already perpetrated a genocide amounting to wiping out most Hindus, were true.

But then, there being no major migration to the region from other parts of India subsequently, the region would have had muslim majority forever since, which in reality was exactly opposite.

................................................................................................

"Ahmed Ibn Arabshah was a contemporary writer on Timur and wrote his work in Arabic which was translated by J.H. Sanders to English in 1936.2 Zafarnama, a biography of Timur was written by Nizamuddin Shami which formed the basis of the second and more famous Zafarnama written by Sharafaddin Ali Yazdi around 1425. These works have a certain bias both towards and against Timur. His character notwithstanding, this chapter primarily deals with Timur’s campaigns against the Jats, the infidel and idol worshippers of Turkestan3 (post-Soviet states in Central Asia including Northern Afghanistan).

"Ahmed Ibn Arabshah mentions a number of military expeditions made against the Jat country (or Turkestan) where the majority of the population were infidels and idol worshippers. However, like previous great conquerors (e.g. Mahmud Ghaznavi) they also had an army with a mixed background. Arabshah writes that the army had Turks who worshipped idols and Zoroastrians who worshipped fire. In addition to them, there were ‘soothsayers, wicked enchanters and unbelievers’. He adds that idolaters carried their idols and the soothsayers spoke in verses and made no distinction between an animal that is strangled or killed with a knife.

"The contemporary historians referred to Turkestan as Jattah (Jat country). In Transoxiana (the area around the Amu Darya) almost all Mongols had converted to Islam but this was not the case in Jattah. Some of their leaders had a Muslim name but the vast majority were still infidels. One of the Khans (leaders) of Jattah was Tughluq Timur Khan, son of Ughul Khan and grandson of Dawa Khan who felt it was his right to rule Transoxiana."

Most descendents of Chinggis Khan had that exact same conviction about the world.

................................................................................................

"Following the assassination of Husain, Timur declared himself the Amir at Balkh. During the first fifteen years of his rule, Timur led six expeditions against the Jats. In 1375, Timur encamped in Jattah country for over five months but the Jattah leader Qamruddin Dughlat kept harassing Umar Sheikh, son of Timur who was posted at Andijan (Uzbekistan). The Jats were not easily subdued. To make matters worse, Timur had to deal with the rebellion of his own officers who would defect to his opponents including the Jats."

That "Jats were not easily subdued" is a characterisation of the community quite familiar to most Indians who've been in contact even remotely. Recently they rebelled against a bill that'd have benefited them, about freedom and rights of farmers, and had encamped in thousands around the capital until it was repealed.

................................................................................................

"Babur on Kabul and Peshawar—Early 1500s

"In 1504, Kabul came under Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty in Hindustan (ruled 1526–30). In his memoirs, Babur claimed that Timur was his ancestor."

Why author refrains from mention of how "Kabul came under Babur" is unclear. He was convinced that he was destined to rule the world, and so was every other of descendents of Chinggis Khan, all his cousins, who kicked him out of every bit of Central Asia as a result.

................................................................................................

"Babur refers to Kabul as an excellent trading centre and Hindustan's own market. He mentions that almost 8,000–10,000 horses would come to the city along with 15,000–20,000 caravans from Hindustan with household stuff, slaves, white cloth, refined sugar candy, common sugar and aromatic roots. Despite making 300–400 percent profit, many merchants were not satisfied although they would never make such profit even if they went to Cathay (Northern China) or Turkey, he noted. He adds that in Kabul, products from Khurasan, Iraq, Turkey and China were available and Hindvi (Indian) language was spoken in the region."

The region had been part of India since antiquity, and recorded as far in ancient era as not only Mahaabhaarata but even Raamaayana.

................................................................................................

"Throughout the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, the Persian Safavid dynasty and the Mughal dynasty of India ruled among themselves different parts of the region which later came to be known as Afghanistan. Hence, almost all contemporary travellers of this period visited Isfahan and Delhi/Agra which were the capitals of the Persian and the Mughal Empires respectively. The cities of modern Afghanistan are hardly mentioned in these works. Nevertheless, there are numerous references to Hindus in Central Asia and even Turkey."

Characteristic muslim intolerance of 'others' was not yet a hundred percent, and humanity hadn't expired yet as completely within islamic society as post nineteenth century.

................................................................................................

"Fedot Kotov’s account—1624

"Fedot Kotov, the Russian, travelled to Persia, Turkey, India and to Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf which was a great port and trade centre around 1624. Kotov lived in Isfahan which was the capital of Shah Abbas of Persia (Safavid dynasty) who held a major portion of present-day Afghanistan and the rest, especially Eastern Afghanistan was with the Mughals who ruled from Delhi (and Agra) in India. ... "

"Kotov specifically mentions Multani merchants in Isfahan, some were Muslims and others believed in the sun—‘when the sun begins to rise, they pray to it’. This is a reference to a sect among the Hindus who treated the sun as God. ... "

This is highly incorrect.

One, there are no sects throughout most of Hindus in the sense of sects in other, non-Indian creeds; an individual, family, clan or society may have a preference for a specific Deity amongst all Gods, but due respect is paid to all.

Two, all Hindus accept Sun as a God, one of several, and he's from Vedic pantheon, ancient Indian era which preceds rising of Himaalaya from ocean, recorded in India's treasure of legends.

Three, paying homage to Sun as it rises is not a characteristic of any sect but was ancient Indian tradition and its only laziness that stops those who do not perform this beginning at first light of dawn.

Rites and rituals are not considered enforced in Hinduism, but are a question of what one can do. It's never about guilt any more than those with poor incomes - or poor grades in school - would be automatically judged guilty of a crime in any fair society.

" ... There was a very famous sun temple in Multan, which according to The Imperial Gazetteer of India was destroyed during the reign of Aurangzeb (1658–1707) and a Jama Masjid was erected at the site2."

This deliberate destruction of Hindu temples was only one of several characteristics of the sadist that this ruler was, who murdered all his elder brothers and imprisoned his father to get the throne for himself - and destroyed suitors of his daughters.

................................................................................................

"He mentions another sect of Indians who wore ‘yellow paint down the forehead across the root of the nose’ (tilak) and cremated their dead. Kotov states, ‘when any one of these Indians dies they carry him outside the city and beyond the town settlement into the field and burn him on wood and scatter the ashes and they say that that man has gone to heaven and those Indians call themselves Christians’.

"Kemp, who translated the Russian text clarified that Kotov confused Krishna, the Hindu God with Christ as the two words sound similar, especially in the Russian language. In the Punjabi language (including Multani), Krishna is pronounced as Krishan or simply Kishan. This may have further added to the misunderstanding."

It's not any sect but all Hindus who conduct funerals by creation, although ashes are traditionally immersed in a river; a Tilak, similarly, is not characteristic of any particular sect but of anyone Hindu.

................................................................................................

"Kotov further writes that all Indians wore clothes of white cotton and white turbans. ... Cotton was one of the items brought to Persia by the Indian merchants.

"Kotov mentions that Kandahar used to be the Indian frontier for the Persians but Shah Abbas captured the city and made it his frontier with India. Kandahar exchanged hands between the Mughals and the Safavid dynasty several times. The Mughals made the last unsuccessful attempt to capture the city in 1653.

................................................................................................

"Adam Olearius’ account—1635

"Adam Olearius, a 17th century German traveller, was sent by the Duke of Holstein (the modern state of Schleswig-Holstein in north Germany) to explore trade ties with Russia. In 1635, he was sent to undertake the same venture in Persia. Later, he published a book on his travels and referred to Hindu merchants in Isfahan, capital of the Persian Empire, which included large parts of present-day Afghanistan3.

"Olearius states that merchants from all over Asia and Europe came to Isfahan and carried out both wholesale and retail trade. He adds that there were 12,000 Indian merchants in the city who sold the merchandise to shops which were nearer to their caravansaries and storehouses. The stuff sold by the Indian merchants were ‘incomparably fairer and their commodities of greater value than those of Persia’. They brought musk, ambergris (both used in perfumery) and large quantities of pearls and diamonds.

"Olearius observed that most of the Indian merchants had a mark of saffron upon the nose though he was unable to learn what it signified, and that they were pagans who burned the bodies of their deceased using wood from the apricot tree only. Olearius, like Kotov, mentions that they all wore cotton and the richer ones had a fine scarf with lively colours. Besides Indians, there were Turks, Jews, Armenians, Georgians, English, Dutch, French, Italian and Spaniard merchants and those from Khurasan and Bukhara among other nations."

................................................................................................

"Abbe Carre’s account—1672–74

"The Frenchman Abbe Carre travelled from France to India in 1672–74 through the Syrian Desert, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and the Persian Gulf. He left a detailed account of his travels in French which was later translated into English by Lady Fawcett and edited by Sir Charles Fawcett with the assistance of Sir Richard Burn in 1947.

"The Frenchman refers to his stay in the house of a Hindu merchant in a village near Naband Bay in Persia. He writes, ‘I was sent to the entrance of the village, to the house of a Hindu merchant who accommodated me as well as he could ... "

................................................................................................

"Jean Baptista Tavernier’s account—1768–70

"Another Frenchman, Jean Baptista Tavernier, travelled from France to Mughal India through Persia and Khurasan and left a detailed account of his travels.

"Tavernier gave a route from Isfahan (Persia) to Agra (India) through Kandahar (Afghanistan). He writes that there were two routes only, either through Kabul or through Multan (Pakistan). The latter was shorter by ten days but rarely used by caravans as one had to pass through the desert and without any sight of water for three to four days. The commonly used and preferred route was through Kabul. It usually took 150 days but if merchants had urgent work they would go on horseback in parties of three or four and covered the same distance in less than half the time or in sixty to seventy-five days.

"Tavernier writes that Kabul was a large town and well fortified, and that the Uzbek people came every year to sell their horses and buy sheep and other cattle. Kabul was a ‘great meeting place for Tartar, Persia and India’. One could obtain wine and ‘articles of food are very cheap’ in Kabul. The people who inhabited the land between Kandahar and Kabul, towards the mountain of Balkh were known as Afghans and that they were ‘powerful, mean and great thieves at night’!

"Interestingly, Tavernier then refers to the Afghans as Indians (the northern and eastern region was then with the Mughals) and mentions their tongue-cleaning habit, ‘It is the custom of these Indians to clean and scrape the tongue every morning with a small curved piece of a particular root’. The people of the subcontinent shared this hygienic habit5."

This is true.

................................................................................................

"The great trading town of Isfahan had both Jews and ‘Indian idolaters’ (Hindus). Tavernier writes that the Jews looked miserable and beggarly but were into all businesses and if one had to buy or sell a rich jewel than they were the people to contact. We are told that during the reign of Shah Abbas, Jews were prosecuted and ‘either by force or by cunning’ many were converted to Islam. Tavernier adds that ‘the King (Shah Abbas) understanding that only power and fear had constrained them to turn, suffered them to resume their own religion, and to live in quiet’.

"Tavernier writes that there were about 10,000–12,000 Baniyas (Hindu trading caste) in Isfahan who were identified by ‘their yellow complexions, or rather by a yellow mark made with saffron upon the top of their foreheads’. Tavernier adds that ‘their turbans are less than usual and their shoes are almost like ours, embroidered with flowers a-top’.

"Tavernier adds that the Baniyas were all bankers and very knowledgeable about money. They controlled the money of all the powerful people and if one needed a considerable sum, they were the people to ask. If one could give good security and was ready to pay the high interest (sometimes 18 percent), the money was disbursed the very next day6."

................................................................................................

"The history of Sikhs in Khurasan starts with the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak (1469–1539) who was a prolific traveller. The life and times of the great saint is recorded in Janamsakhis which are semi-historical in nature as they are written in a devotional manner and do not contain dates but records of his visits to Mecca, Medina, Bagdad, Kabul and Kandahar (all in Central Asia) along with visits to Sri Lanka and within the Indian sub-continent1. The earliest copy belongs to the early 1600s but their further antiquity cannot be ruled out."

"Babur Vani is the name given to the four hymns of Guru Nanak in the Guru Granth Sahib (compiled in 1605) referring to the invasion of Hindustan by Babur and the devastation caused by the Mughals. In his autobiography, Babur notes that those towns or areas who submitted to him were spared but those who chose to defend their towns, even the innocent civilians were not spared there. Babur defeated and replaced the Pathan Lodi dynasty (1451–1526) that ruled parts of Northern Hindustan."

"Having conquered Khurasan,

"Babar has terrified Hindustan.

"The creator takes not the blame on Himself and has sent the Mughal as death's myrmidon.

"So much beating was inflicted that people shrieked.

"Does not Thou O God, feel compassion?

"O maker, art the equal master of all.

"(GGS, p. 360)

"When Babar's rule was proclaimed,

"then no (Pathan) prince ate his food.

"Some lost their five times of prayer, and of some, the time of worship is gone.

"(GGS, p. 417)"

"Bringing the marriage party of sin,

"Babar has hastened from Kabul and demands perforce the gift of our Land, etc. O Lalo.

"Modesty and righteousness both have vanished, and falsehood moves about as the leader, O Lalo.

"(GGS, p. 722)"

................................................................................................

"Sikh Gurus and their followers in Kabul

"The Mughal Emperor Babur captured Kabul in 1504 and by 1526 he was the master of North India. Kabul became one of the provinces of Hindustan (contemporary writers use this name). Indian merchants had been regularly visiting Kabul throughout the centuries. As mentioned earlier, Babur referred to Kabul as Hindustan's own market. The province of Kabul remained with Hindustan until 1738 when it was conquered by Nadir Shah, the Persian ruler. During this period, the Sikh chroniclers record a number of names and instances when Sikh followers in Kabul came to the region now known as East Punjab, to pay respects to the Sikh Gurus."

Nobody writes or identifies Punjab in India as "East Punjab", although for the longest time Bengal province or state within India after partition was called West Bengal.

So if there's any truth in "region now known as East Punjab", that's strictly limited to outside borders of India, perhaps only in paki circles - and their friends.

................................................................................................

"Early Sikhs of 17th century

"The 17th century Persian manuscript Dabistan-i-Mazahib provides an early account of Sikhs. Initially, it was attributed to Kashmiri writer Muhsin Fani but now most historians agree that it was written by Mir Zulfiqar Ardestani (d.1670), a Zoroastrian priest from Persia who travelled and stayed in Hindustan for many years. This is a well-known account as it makes reference to the Deen-e-Elahi, a ‘religion’ started by Akbar the Great, the Mughal ruler of Hindustan."

It's unclear why author puts the word religion in quotes when referring to "Deen-e-Elahi, a ‘religion’ started by Akbar".

Is it for the same reason that later abrahmic followers have taken increasingly to claim that Hinduism is not a religion at all, just as British claimed that India existed only as long as British colonial regime did, and some opposition parties now question her existence?

Author takes opportunity to make some derogatory comments on Hinduism in quoting a European on Sikh beliefs.

................................................................................................

"Sikhs and Afghans (1748–1849)

"Ahmed Shah Abdali’s first invasion to North India was in 1748 which was met with failure. Sardar Ala Singh, founder of erstwhile Patiala state, was part of the Mughal forces which repulsed the Afghans13 but within a decade Abdali was able to annex Punjab. The next 101 years the Afghan and the Sikh ruling elite were neighbours and mostly antagonists.

"Abdali, the founder of modern Afghanistan led almost nine invasions of North India till 1767. During this period, his looting expedition came to such a stage that people of Punjab came up with a proverb, Khada peeta lahe da, baki Ahmed Shahe da. It means, eat and drink what you can, the rest (anything saved) belongs to (will be taken by) Ahmed Shah.

"The Sikh Confederacy known as Misls defended Punjab using guerrilla warfare. To teach Sikhs a lesson, Abdali and his Lahore governor ransacked and flattened the Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) at Amritsar. In 1764, within a single day, Abdali killed more than 20,000 Sikhs including women and children. However, the very next year the Sikhs were able to capture Punjab, the territory from Indus to Yamuna. The city of Multan and neighbouring areas remained under the Sikh Misl Sardars (leaders) for a decade before passing on to the Afghans. Timur, the successor to Ahmed Shah was unable to re-capture Punjab but was successful in Multan in 1779(14). ................................................................................................

"Khushwant Singh writes that the new Sikh ruler, Maharaja Sher Singh was unhappy and felt that the British had used Sikhs in the Afghanistan campaign to their own benefit. Apparently, the British forgot to consult the successor of Ranjit Singh regarding the reinstatement of the old adversary of the Sikhs, Dost Mohammed Khan to head the helm of affairs in Afghanistan. When Dost Mohammed passed through Lahore on his way to Kabul, the Sikh ruler gave him a huge welcome and expensive gifts15. The Khan was also inclined to form better relations with Sikhs as they were neighbours. A few months later Sher Singh was murdered which eventually led to the British occupation of Punjab."

Any bets that this murder was engineered by British, who must have found it convenient if they didn't commit it?

................................................................................................

"George Forster’s account

"George Forster (1752–91) was a traveller, writer and civil servant of the East India Company. He travelled from Bengal to England in 1782–83 in the disguise of a Muslim merchant. His knowledge of Persian and Hindustani languages along with the Hindu religion came in handy during his visit to Afghanistan. He writes about Hindus in the country in some detail and many of them helped him. His memoir, A Journey from Bengal to England, through the Northern Part of India, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Persia, and into Russia, by the Caspian Sea: Volume 1, was published in 1790 and the second volume was published in 1798 after his death.

"Forster writes that the modern city of Peshawar was founded by the Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556–1605) and since ‘the Afghans were averse from dwelling in towns and the occupations of commerce’ he encouraged the inhabitants of Punjab, both Hindus and Muslims to settle in the city.

"Forster mentions a helpful Hindu who pleaded on his behalf to the Afghans who were harassing him at Dickah, a small village on the southern bank of the Kabul River. This Hindu used his good offices to negotiate and pay a small ransom to have the English traveller released but not before getting a blow on his face from the Afghan adversaries. Forster was so grateful for this Hindu’s perseverance that he writes, ‘this generous Hindoo, who, l hope, will undergo no further transmigration’.

................................................................................................

"The Shah at Kabul maintained a close contact (probably due to trade) with Balkh. The great bazaar in the city was crowded with Uzbeks who had similar facial features as the ‘Chinese and Malays but harsher’. Many foreign communities visited the city and the Hindus mainly from Peshawar contributed to the business by their ‘superior industry and knowledge of commerce’. Foster compares that the Hindus enjoyed almost the same (if not less) liberty and protection in Balkh as they experienced in India."

Considering Foster's own background and the fact that Hindus had been under colonial occupation even then for close to a millennium, the interpretation of the above "almost the same (if not less) liberty and protection in Balkh as they experienced in India" is opposite of what it seems.

"Forster states that the town of Ghazni stood on a hill and at the foot ran a small river and the town’s borders were surrounded by some fruit gardens. There were some Hindu families and a few Muslims in this small town."

Wonder how those Hindus managed to survive!

................................................................................................

"Mountstuart Elphinstone’s account

"In 1808, Mountstuart Elphinstone1 was sent to Afghanistan by the British to study and possibly make an alliance lest the Russians decided to invade the sub-continent. ... "

" ... Unlike George Forster, Elphinstone mentions Sikhs (in Afghanistan) numerous times."

"Elphinstone reveals that Shah Zaman, the grandson of Ahmed Shah allowed the Sikhs ‘entire toleration’ and ‘forbade them to be molested’ unless they were enemies. Shah Zaman, we are told was induced by a Mullah to convert two Sikhs and put them to death when the Sikhs refused to convert. The Afghan who told this ordeal to Elphinstone ‘expressed a proper sense of cruelty of this proceeding’ but applauded the firm resolution of the two Sikhs."

................................................................................................

Author takes another opportunity to take a swipe at Hinduism by quoting Elphinstone’s remarks on Afghan attitude.

"The Afghans hated idol worship but the Hindus were allowed to ‘freely exercise their religion’ and ‘their temples are entirely unmolested’. However, the Hindus were not allowed religious processions and public display of their idols. Although Hindus were considered to be impure by the Afghans and no ‘strict man’ would consent to eat their meat, they were not ‘treated with any particular contempt or hardship’. The Hindus were employed in a position of trust and monetary affairs and seemed to be ‘as much at ease’ as the majority of the Afghans.

"As an example of Afghan toleration, Elphinstone mentions a Sikh goldsmith who was a very intelligent man and had travelled throughout Afghanistan, Persia and Central Asia. This Sikh goldsmith always spoke about ‘the kindness and hospitability’ of the Afghans as opposed to the Persians who were very suspicious and would not allow the Sikh to draw water from the well or walk in the rain lest he splashed water on a Persian making him impure!

"The Hindus had to pay a ‘light tax’ which Muslims were exempted from. This could be Jizya. However, the Mullah and the Qazis could be bigoted too. Elphinstone mentions a Hindu who was forcefully circumcised as he did not get along with the Qazi who swore that the Hindu had converted to Islam and now reverted to idolatry. Over a thousand people gathered and the circumcision was performed with much harshness. The Hindu later fled to Lahore (Ranjit Singh’s capital) and returned to Hinduism. It seems strange that this ‘Hindu’ had previously converted to Islam without circumcision."

Here, bias of author shows in using quotes for Hindu rather than for 'converted'.

Obviously the story about his having converted was a lie.

................................................................................................

"Elphinstone adds that in the West Afghanistan, Muslims had no such advantage and Mr Durie related that he had seen many disputes between Hindus and Muslims in Kandahar in which the Hindus were as violent as their opponents without giving the least offence to any of the other Muslims."

Author recounts from Elphinstone’s account regarding an Anglo-Indian who pretended to be a Muslim, travelled through Afghanistan, and informed Elphinstone about Hindu residents of various cities in Afghanistan who were well off, and kind to him.

"Durie probably had certain advantages being an Anglo-Indian with a less pale complexion and knowledge of Indian languages which would have helped him communicating with the Hindu traders."

................................................................................................

"Account of Alexander ‘Bukhara’ Burnes

"Alexander Burnes was a traveller who made his name by exploring Bukhara, he was even nicknamed Bukhara Burnes4. He met and became familiar with a number of Hindu Shikarpuri merchants (from Shikarpur, North Sindh) in Kabul. Burnes writes that the whole trade of Central Asia was in their hands and they had ‘houses of agency’ from Astrakhan (Southern Russia) and Mashhad (Iran) to Calcutta in Eastern India. Burnes states that they were a plodding (hard working but not imaginative) race and lent money to the Government which gave them protection. They were very tolerable but dressed shabbily. These merchants did not bring their families with them and in Kabul, they had eight great ‘houses of agency’. Burnes clarifies that they were ‘quite separate from the other Hindu inhabitants’ who had 300 families."

" ... The Jews and Hindus were marked. The former wore a different dress and a conical cap. There were about 4,000 Jews in Bukhara, emigrants from Mashhad (Persia) who were chiefly employed in dyeing cloth. Jews received the same treatment as the Hindus.

"There were about 800 Hindus in Bukhara, living in a caravanserai of their own. Burnes writes that they were chiefly natives of Shikarpur and their number had increased in the past few years. The Uzbek and other Muslim merchants found themselves replaced by these people by sheer hard work and as they would ‘stake the largest sums of money for the smallest gain’. The Khan of Bukhara, the ruler, lived on the capitation tax which was levied from the Jews and Hindus.

"While in Bukhara, Burnes met an army deserter from the East India Company at Bombay (now Mumbai). He was on a pilgrimage to all temples of the Hindu world and was going to the fire temples on the shores of the Caspian Sea!

................................................................................................

"Burnes quotes Atma Ram, Hindu Prime Minister of the ruler of Bukhara that about 600 families were involved in gold washing business which considerably increased the value of the gold. The Hindu goldsmith bought this gold from villages in Badakhshan and Kafir country (Kafiristan, now called Nuristan) for a small quantity of pepper, coarse cloth, turmeric, glass beads and needles. The market price of gold was much lower in this region compared to Hindustan. These goldsmiths then made a large fortune by selling it in Amritsar (East Punjab).

"Burnes in his letter dated 6th December 1837 from Kabul to the Secretary, Government of India, W.H. MacNaghten Esq.4 writes that Persians had been encouraging the ruler of Bukhara to raise taxes, regiments and force the Hindus to bury their dead or exile themselves. Burnes laments that this would prove ‘fatal to the prosperity of Bukhara’. Burnes writes that this policy had been disapproved by Dost Mohammed Khan, Afghan ruler ‘as being a variance with the customs of Islam’.

"Unlike other accounts, Mohan Lal has mentioned Hindus whom he met in Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan in greater detail. He even met a Sikh near Kandahar. Disappointingly he mentions only one Hindu temple in his memoirs. He was dressed as a Muslim trader which perhaps discouraged him to go near the temples lest it would blow up the disguise.

"Alexander Burnes writes that there were 300 Hindu families in Kabul which were in addition to the Shikarpuri merchants who lent money to the Government. These merchants lived separately as they did not bring their families (womenfolk and children) with them to Afghanistan. Burnes’ account tells us about the powerful Hindu Prime Minister of the Khan of Bukhara but the city only had Hindu merchants unlike Kabul which had a permanently settled Hindu population."
................................................................................................

"Arthur Conolly’s Account

"Arthur Conolly was a British explorer and intelligence officer who visited Afghanistan in 18301. He published his memoirs in 1834 and is credited to be the first one to use the term ‘The Great Game’ to describe the struggle between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for domination over Central Asia. He was put to death by the Amir of Bukhara in 1842 on charges of spying for the British Empire."

"Several people in Herat told Conolly an incident about the crown prince of Afghan royalty. A merchant of Bakhtiari tribe gave a Hindu banker 1,800 gold coins for a bill to be exchanged in Kabul. Kamran, the prince, somehow came to know about it and sent a couple of men after him. They started a quarrel with the Bakhtiari merchant and in the ensuing scuffle (purposely) tore away the charm in his neck. The charm had the bill in it. These men then went to the Hindu banker, gave him the bill and forced him to refund the cash and then gave it to their master (the prince).

"The Bakhtiari merchant pleaded to the Shah, the ruler, who took pity on him and ordered that he would be paid a rial (still used in Iran) every day from the royal treasury. This was stopped after one week and the merchant was instead ordered to receive a daily portion of bread from the royal kitchen. Even this was stopped after some time and the poor guy remained a beggar outside the palace gates in the hope of getting his money back. He did not get anything and later returned to his own province."

"Conolly writes that all non-Muslims in Kandahar had to pay poll-tax (Jizya) in accordance to Sharia (Islamic Law) but in the ‘disturbed state of the country’ every Muslim demanded it of the kafirs who paid but got no receipt in return. The kafir had to pay as long as he had money and when he had none he had to accept abuses and blows from the ‘true believer’.

"Conolly states that the Jews were slightly better placed as they had some commonality with the Muslims. They dressed poor and bore injury better than ‘any other people in the world’. Neither could the Hindus disguise themselves nor did they try it. They paid the leader of the Kafilah (Caravan) which protected them on the road. Sometimes the Hindu had to bribe the police officers and if he couldn’t then he was taken to a man of some authority who would torture them until he paid. Conolly sarcastically writes on behalf of these Afghans, ‘What treatment could be too bad for such a usurious and in every way abominable, idolater!’"

................................................................................................

"G.T. Vigne’s account

"In 1836 Godfrey Thomas Vigne visited Afghanistan and wrote a book about it in 18402. He mentions that the Uzbeks in Kunduz city referred to the Hindus as elder brothers and treated them with greater kindness than the other Muslims. The word used was Lala. Some Afghans still address Hindus and Sikhs as Lala, which means elder brother. However, we must mention here that in December 2016, a prominent Sikh of Kunduz, Lala Dilsoz was killed by assailants.

"Vigne is in agreement with Burnes about the population of Kabul being about 60,000 and that the Hindus were few in number and were mainly money-lenders. There were about two hundred houses of Hindus in Bukhara. The ruler had ordered the Hindus to bury, and not cremate their dead and consequently they were leaving the city.

"Vigne writes that Uzbeks of Kunduz called Hindus their elder brothers, and treated them with greater kindness than the other Muslims."

................................................................................................

"Charles Masson’s account

"James Lewis, a soldier of the British East India Company who became a deserter in 1827, went exploring under the alias Charles Masson and stayed in Afghanistan from 1833–38. He excavated many Buddhist sites in the country and when he returned to England in 1842 he had collected close to 47,000 coins! ... "

Serious robbery, that.

" ... His memoir was published in four volumes and contains many interesting details on Hindus. It also makes reference to Guru Nanak's place near Jalalabad among other things3."

................................................................................................

"Shakardara is a district in Kabul province. Masson and his party arrived at the large village serai here, inhabited principally by the Hindus, adjacent to which was Sirkh Bolendi (the red mound). ... "

That should be Surkh Bulandie.

" ... A village of a neighbouring district had 150 houses, ‘the better of which belong to Hindus, who reside here in some number’."

"He writes, ‘With respect to the Hindus, the Khan Mulla’s sagacity discovered a sacred text admirably adapted to their case, as well as to the circumstances of the Amir. It set forth, that it was lawful to seize the wealth of infidels, provided the wealth so seized was employed in repelling the aggressions of infidels’.

"Both Ranjit Singh and the Amir’s Hindu subjects were infidels in the eyes of the Afghans. Masson adds, ‘it became obviously consistent with the divine sanction that the Amir should supply his necessities from the funds of his Hindu subjects. Had the Amir possessed a single doubt of conscience it must have been allayed by the sound deductions of the Khan Mulla. The Hindu Shikarpuris, or bankers of the city, were sent for, and being informed they were prisoners until they had arranged to contribute three lakhs of rupees, were made over to the custody of Haji Khan’."

" ... This perception that infidels are lesser beings which subsided during Amanullah and Zahir Shah resurfaced again in the 1990s and still continues today in Afghanistan."

................................................................................................

"The Afghan Sikhs including those in India had very good relations with the royal family in Afghanistan. The above examples where eminent Sikhs were state guests in Afghanistan during the British rule gives an indication of the prestige, influence and respect of the Sikhs in the country."

"Uzbekistan

"Andijan, the city on the eastern edge of the country bordering Kyrgyzstan had a Dharamsaal which had a garden with it. There were thirty-five shops of Hindus here. Karmina city also had a Dharamsaal. There were seventeen shops of Hindus here who also lit the lamp there. Samarkand had only six shops of Hindus and a Dharamsaal. Bukhara however, had the most magnificent Dharamsaal and there were almost one hundred Hindu shops.

"Afghanistan

"Maymana in Faryab province in north Afghanistan had a Dharamsaal with an Udasi (ascetic order started by Baba Sri Chand) priest. Sherkhan Bandar referred as Karki Bandar by Arjun Muni was the border town of Afghanistan in Kunduz province. There was a Dharamsaal here but it had no (permanent) priest. Aqcha in Jowzjan province had a Dharamsaal with eleven bighas of garden area which was gifted by the local chief (Khan Sahib). There were eleven shops of Hindus here. Whenever a Sadhu or ascetic would visit the Dharamsaal, these Hindus would make a collection among themselves and pay for his journey.

"Mazar-i-Sharif is the capital of Balkh province and the fourth largest city of Afghanistan. Arjun Muni writes that there was a spring connected with Guru Nanak and Hindus would bathe in it. Tashqurghan now known as Kholm in Balkh province was an ancient town. The town had a Dharamsaal with an Arora (Sikh trader caste) Sikh priest. Haibak in Samangan province also had a Dharamsaal and so did Kaza (Kaga) in Nangarhar province with a Bedi (same caste as Guru Nanak) priest."

Author is as reluctant to explain that Bedi is a Brahmin surname, coming from deformation of Vedi, literally 'someone who knows Veda'; but he's been equally reluctant to mention that Khatri is deformation of Kshatriya, which is next to Brahmins the top caste, and consists of those responsible for protection of society, namely, soldiers and warriors (including royals - on par with all others).

That these Khatri people resorted to trade is chiefly due to islamic hordes invading and subsequently ruling India as colonial rulers.

................................................................................................

"Ghadar Party and Afghanistan"

Any reader familiar with writings of Bhagat Singh is aware of far more details regarding this subject in general, except a small overall detail.

" ... After the war, a major conspiracy was discovered involving Germany and the Ghadar Party. ... "

This is slightly suspicious, almost making one question if the author intends to imply indirectly that the party members were motivated by priorities other than freedom of India, and any readers not concerned with India might so question; so those familiar with India or with writings of Bhagat Singh, being certain that those points are unquestionably settled, can only wonder about intentions of the author, residing as he does in UK.

................................................................................................

"The Ghadar Party was formed by Sikhs settled in North America during the First World War (1914–18) to start a mutiny in British Indian army and end the colonial rule in India. These rebels (freedom fighters) were largely from the Punjabi Sikh community but leaders came from diverse backgrounds including Hindus and Muslims from other states of India. Their members tried to spark a rebellion in the British garrisons in India, Burma and Singapore among other countries. After the war, a major conspiracy was discovered involving Germany and the Ghadar Party. The rebellion failed and many were given death penalties, life sentences and confiscation of the property for ‘waging a war against the Emperor’."

The assertion that the movement failed is, again, questionable - it seems as suitable to UK as the epithet "rebellion".

The party consisted largely of expat Indians, mostly working in US, Canada and elsewhere, especially those settled across Southeast Asia and parts of coastal China such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. But their work did successfully keep the flame of aspirations of freedom alive in minds and hearts of India, especially those in rural Punjab, where perhaps literature wasn't as important as connections with people, and word of mouth about these people and their associates in Punjab - and how British dealt with them, namely by severe punishment, mostly executions - lit a fire in minds and hearts of Punjab.

................................................................................................

"The places of worship of minorities hold a very important place for them as they also serve the role of community centres. Afghanistan has always been a conservative society and like the majority Muslim community, the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were also very close to their faith. Even now in India, Germany, UK and the rest of Europe, the Afghan Sikhs continue to be Keshdhari1."

Arguably, that's true of some, not all.

It's happened several times in early years of the new millennium in Germany, but never in US and certainly not in UK, that one is told one was incorrect in guessing the Indian identity roots of someone; but the person thus denying India never identified themselves otherwise, by name or any other nationality, or ancestral roots. One can only surmise that these were Sikhs, with short hair in case of males, who were of the opinion that they had to distance themselves from even casual contact with others of India. This is strange enough to make one question their veracity.

And going by accounts of Indians in UK, this was probably about the paki-inspired terrorist movement.

................................................................................................

Next part is strange, to say the least.

"Prof. Ganda Singh was critical of the level of education among the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs in Kandahar. He writes that the boys of the two communities seldom went to government colleges. The community had opened a primary school but it was not in a very good condition. The boys did not go to high schools lest the Government (of Afghanistan) sent them abroad for higher education (which was a norm). Due to this oversight, the Hindu-Sikh community was behind Muslims in education and they were thus, neither seen nor heard in government and administrative circles. The Prof. adds that the Government was not to be blamed for it; the Hindus and Sikhs themselves were responsible for it."

Strange, because education has always been a first priority and greatest aspiration in Hindu culture, and Sikhs aren't all that different, being rooted in Indian ancient culture despite all protestations of differences to the contrary.

And judging from some names in science and mathematics, and also by details of life of Bhagat Singh that have recently come to clearer light, what with publications of his writings, and even more so, of his reading, these aspirations are far from mere wishful amongst the Sikh community, too.

One cannot imagine that fault lay with earth or air - or water - of Afghanistan, and while the author strives to free the local ambient society, one cannot imagine why else it's only those Hindus and Sikhs who were residents of Afghanistan would be short in education.

Judging from the foreword even to this book, one can only infer that the ambient community made lives of children in school so much hell that the families preferred to not send them to institutions that they themselves did not run.

The forced conversion account given by the author in a previous chapter isn't exactly reassuring to the contrary, to say the least.

And that the Hindu and Sikh females adopted, contrary to their own culture as prevalent in India and elsewhere across the globe, a couture consisting of covering up to confirm with the ambient society, coupled either girl's not educated, either, makes one question if they would have been safe if seeking education in Afghanistan, or even stepping out.

................................................................................................

"Habibullah Khan (1901–19)

"In 1903, Amir Habibullah Khan opened Habibia School, the first well-structured and modern school in Afghanistan. It served as the foundation for the country’s education and training system. Most teachers of this school were either Afghans who were educated in India, or Muslim Indians who had arrived in Afghanistan due to political persecution. Dr Abdul Ghani, an Indian Muslim was the first principal of the school. By 1924, modern schools were opened in other parts of the country as well. Even a few Hindus successfully finished their education in these schools1.

"Many prominent Afghan personalities have graduated from this school including the current President Dr Ashraf Ghani and the former President Hamid Karzai. The school was badly damaged during the 1990s and was renovated with the assistance of Government of India during December 2003–March 2006. The renovated school building was inaugurated jointly by President Hamid Karzai and Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh, on 28 August 2005. Since then, India has been assisting Habibia School by way of repair and maintenance, upgrading of labs, training of teachers, etc. In May 2016 the Government of India pledged $1 million over a ten-year period for the annual routine maintenance of Habibia High School in Kabul2.

................................................................................................

"In 1911, the Amir decided to take care of the health sector and founded the first modern hospital in Afghanistan at Kabul. The doctors were from Turkey. The military hospital was located in the Sultanpur district. It was headed by a doctor from India. In the course of time, a number of hospitals were built throughout Afghanistan, but unfortunately, they were not enough3. In 1932, a medical faculty in Kabul was opened which later led to the medical wing of the University.

"Ghobar mentions Meta Singh, a Frontier Afghan Sikh and owner of Kabul Café who remained in prison for thirteen years for refusing to spy for the British High Commission in Kabul. His wife, who was German, left Afghanistan4. This obviously happened before 1919.

"Frederick Pollock (1940) writes that Habibullah was courteous in his dealings with the Hindus and Sikhs. The Amir was delighted to visit Lahore ‘which had once been in the possession of his dynasty’. He also visited Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar and ‘made friends with the Sikh priests’. He told the British official that he respected all religions but despised those (people) who were lukewarm in their own faith. Pollock adds that this act of ‘toleration to their hereditary enemies (Sikhs) displeased the Afghan Sirdars’ who also resented Habibullah’s open friendliness with the British officials and their wives5.

................................................................................................

"Amir Amanullah Khan (1919–29)

"Following the declaration of Independence in 1919 and the short inconsequential war, the British and the Afghans started negotiations, initially in Rawalpindi and then in the hill town of Mussoorie, now in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Dupree provides interesting details regarding the conference.

"Nawab Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan (a Muslim Pathan from Peshawar and a member of the British delegation) defended the British policy and Diwan Niranjan Das (an Afghan Hindu) defended the Afghan policy. The atmosphere in the town (and rest of the country) was pro-Afghan and there was a feeling of anticipation that following the Afghan independence, a similar process may start for India.

"During the conference, Eid al-Adha occurred and given the violent atmosphere, the British initially refused the Afghan request to visit the mosque in Dehradun. Eventually, the British relented and Diwan Niranjan Das accompanied his Muslim colleagues to the mosque. The Afghan delegation also visited the famous Hindu pilgrimage at Hardwar ‘to symbolize the ethnic unity which theoretically existed in Afghanistan’. Dupree writes that all along the route the local people kissed the car of the Afghan delegates and shouted independence slogans6.

................................................................................................

"Article 2 of the Constitution of Afghanistan recognised minorities and it was approved in 1923. It stated:

""The religion of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam. Followers of other religions such as Jews and Hindus residing in Afghanistan are entitled to the full protection of the state provided they do not disturb the public peace."

"On 18th May 1925 during the reign of Amir Amanullah Khan, the Sikhs organised a three-day Samagham (religious programme) for the first time in the city of Kabul. The religious function was held in the garden of Diwan Niranjan Das’ mansion. Giani Avtar Singh and Master Udham Singh were the main organisers. Akhand Paathh, the continuous recitation of the Guru Granth Sahib which is completed in forty-eight hours was undertaken. A Nagar Kirtan, a Sikh religious procession with the Guru Granth Sahib in a spacious vehicle which had the Khalsa flag and the flag of Afghanistan on either side was taken out in the city. On the last day, Amrit Sanchar (Khalsa initiation ceremony) for the willing was performed. The programme which was supported by the government was very well attended by the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs7."

................................................................................................

"Amanullah removed most restrictions upon the Hindus and Shias in Afghanistan. Ghani (1921) writes that they could practice their religions as they liked and perform their rituals and other religious exercises. The Amir personally attended the religious functions of minorities. The Jizya on Hindus was reduced to half but the Hindus still had to wear a mark (Kashka or tilak) on the forehead which was ‘ordered only for their safety’. Ghani writes that the former distinction of yellow turbans and caps for the Hindus was removed. They had equal rights with the Muslims and were even taken in the military service. Ghani adds that in state service, the Muslims had no preference over the Hindus. He adds, ‘Some of the highest posts in offices were occupied by Hindu gentlemen. The Hindus in Kabul mostly form the trading class but some of them learn clerical work and get engaged in offices on equal salaries with Mohammadans’9.

"The radio station and transmission were established during the reign of Amanullah Khan which was almost the same time as radio broadcasting started in British India. This was an achievement for modern Afghanistan.

"The Amir favoured wearing western attires and etiquettes. He spoke against the purdah system and encouraged women’s education. His wife Queen Soraya shed away the veil and started attending functions with her husband in public, in western outfits. Some girl students were sent to Turkey for higher education. The Queen became the face of women’s rights in Afghanistan10.

................................................................................................

"Dass writes that from 1923, Amir Amanullah Khan wanted to give Afghanistan a new impetus and begin economic and industrial growth. With the help of skilled people, he was able to start several schools, administrative structures, hospitals, and a few manufacturing companies. He travelled to Germany, France, Great Britain, Turkey and the then Soviet Union. When he came back, he wanted to change the life of the Afghan citizens. The rights of women were increased, and people were encouraged to wear western clothes and men were banned from wearing turbans. Although this was never strictly implemented beyond the city of Kabul, however, the conservatives thought that this was contrary to their religion. The fundamentalists highjacked the reforms of Amanullah Khan and began to resist and rebel over them. They succeeded in causing a religious and popular rage against the ruler. Although the economy was being modernised, the army outside Kabul was still rudimentary hence ill-prepared to crush the rebellion swiftly. The Amir decided to leave the country to avoid a civil war which would have led to the death of many Afghans. The Amir made far too many radical changes in the Afghan society in a short space of time like Ataturk of Turkey but unlike the latter, he did not succeed in embedding them in the Afghan culture."

................................................................................................

"Habibullah Kalakani—1929

"During this period, Habibullah Bache Sakqau (the son of the water-bearer) from Kalakaan founded a group in the north of Kabul province, and after a few months was able to conquer the province of Kabul. He and his band were illiterate and rough headed and had no experience of running a government.

"The Hindus and Sikhs, who lived in the province of Parwan, owned vineyards in Kalakaan and Charikar and had very friendly and neighbourly relations with the other villagers. They also had friendly relations with Habibullah Kalakani, as his father used to provide their drinking water. Kalakani was deposed after nine months11."

................................................................................................

"Mohammed Nadir Shah (1929–33)

"The first modern university in Afghanistan was the University of Kabul, which was opened in 1931 and included numerous faculties. It was followed by the University of Nangarhar, Kandahar University, University of Herat and the University of Balkh.

"Higher education in Afghanistan lasted at least four years and a maximum of seven years. For the students, who came from other provinces to Kabul, a very good student dwelling, where girls and boys lived separately, was established. Like the apartments, the food and other amenities were financed by the government. Before 1978, all students also received a monthly allowance from the state12.

"In the course of time, collaborations were signed with countries such as Germany, France and the USA, which supported the educational institutions. This had brought numerous guest lecturers and professors into the country and the students were able to travel to Europe and the US for further studies. The former Soviet Union built the Kabul Polytechnic Institute in 1967 in over sixty hectares of land. In 2002 it became the Kabul Polytechnic University.

"The educational attainment of the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs was above the average level of education of the native population. Education like rest of the country suffered a lot during the Mujahideen and the Taliban regimes."

................................................................................................

"Zahir Shah (1933–73)

"Traditionally, all the banking business in Afghanistan was in the hands of the Hindus (and Sikhs) and the Jewish money-lenders. In 1931, the first bank in the country was founded under the name of The National Bank of Afghanistan (Shirkat-i-Ashami) with branches at Herat, Kandahar, Mazar, Khanabad, Jalalabad, Peshawar, Bombay, London, Paris and Berlin. It was not a state-owned bank but had a monopoly over government business13. The first wholly government-owned bank was established in 1939 under the name of Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB).

"Ahmad and Aziz (1936) write that all Afghans whether Aryan, Semitic or Turanian, Sunni, Shia or Hindu, are equally proud of their Afghan nationality and have even presented a united front to external foes.

"In terms of minorities, Ahmad and Aziz add that the Jews were found in most towns north of the Hindukush and at Kabul while the Hindus and Sikhs were settled in all the towns and important villages14."

But do they mean Jews avoided the region that separated at partition? Surely not? According to Tarek Fateh, at least, they did live there until 1947, if not post partition.

Jews do live in India and have always done, especially in western states, having arrived fleeing persecution by Rome - and they have coexisted with Hindus in peace, for all these centuries, just as Parsees do, having arrived as refugees from Persia after Islamic persecution began in Persia.

................................................................................................

"During the reign of Zahir Shah, the government promoted pride in the pre-Islamic heritage of Afghanistan. Many books were published in the country and we are told that ancient Afghanistan was called ‘Aryana’, the land of Aryans. The national airline of the country was also named Aryana. Prof. Ganda Singh writes that many people were doing their PhDs on ancient Afghanistan and there was a lot of curiosity to learn about the pre-Islamic past of the country15. Foreign archaeology missions excavated and brought to light the Greek-Bactrian (Balkh), Buddhist Gandhara and the Hindu past of the country. The Pashtun identity and Pashto language were promoted. No one could fault the government of this except that although the Pashtun or Pakhtoon were considered synonymous with the Afghans, they were no more than 40 percent of the whole population. The Zahir Shah Government should have tried to be more inclusive."

Presumably this promotion of Pashto language was seen as movement towards assertion of Afghan identity, against domination by Persian language and culture.

"During this period, the Hindus (and Sikhs) were considered as original inhabitants of Afghanistan and well respected. A Hindu gentleman from Kandahar mentions that the educated people quote the existence of various ancient temples as a proof of the Hindu presence in the country since antiquity, but the general masses think that Hindus were brought as slaves by Ahmed Shah Durrani16.

"Dass writes that post-1992 when the Taliban were in power, the Sikhs cremated inside the Gurdwara Karte Parwan while the Hindus cremated in the front yard of the Asamai School19. The forty years of war and uncertainty has made the Afghans ‘less tolerant and more fundamentalist’ now. One of the biggest problems the Hindus and Sikhs now face is the cremation of their dead. The cremation grounds which were outside the Kabul city are now part of residential areas as the city has expanded. Now, whenever they try to cremate their dead, the local people throw stones and bricks at them. In the absence of any contingency plan, nowadays the community informs the police before coming to cremate their dead and the police provide them protection. Alas, gone are the days when some Afghans would consider Hindus and Sikhs as Lala or elder brother.

................................................................................................

"The period from 1960–80 was one of high achievement for the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. The youth took immense interest in attaining higher education. During this time a number of doctors, engineers and other professionals came out of the community. In 1960, a joint Hindu-Sikh institution known as Kharian was formed. In 1965, the Sikh youth formed ‘Naujawan Sikh Sabha’ for their social and religious requirements. The literal meaning is Sikh Youth Club/Organisation. Both organisations worked together in the field of education.

"The members and organisers of these bodies were doctors and educated members of the community. They were in a mission to eradicate illiteracy and went to every house to encourage the community to study. They spoke in Gurdwaras and Mandirs on embracing modern education. In 1968, the Afghan Sikh Sabha was formed. It worked on gaining higher education and doing away with outdated social practices.

"In 1969, the Vice-President of Naujawan Sikh Sabha, Jai Singh Faani won the election and became a Member of Parliament. This good work continued until 1978. During this time there was hardly any hospital in Jalalabad, Kabul and Kandahar which did not have a Sikh-Hindu doctor. The community also had professors in Universities of Kabul and Jalalabad. Some notable names were Professor Bal Mukand, Professor Saran Singh, Professor Bhagat Singh and Professor Roop Chand20.

"A new Constitution of Afghanistan was approved in 1964 which also reiterated the religious freedom of the minorities. The article 2 stated:

""Islam is the sacred religion of Afghanistan. Religious rites performed by the state shall be according to the provisions of the Hanafi doctrine. Non-Muslim citizens shall be free to perform their rituals within the limits determined by laws for public decency and public peace21.""

................................................................................................

"Amir Amanullah Khan appointed Diwan Niranjan as the state Minister of Finance and Trade in his Government. For the next few years, he actively participated in all diplomatic efforts. As he had finished military school, Diwan always wore a military uniform and was armed with a sword.

"Diwan had only one child, a daughter Radha affectionately called Radojaan. She was very beautiful but such was the status of Diwan Niranjan Das that none of Hindus dared to ask her hand in marriage. The Diwan went to India where she was married off.

"Khurana quotes the Diwan’s granddaughter Subadra Bali who was about 90–92 years of age when he met her. She told Khurana that Diwan, like the other Afghan Hindus, was very close to the Sikhs. He regularly visited Gurdwara Baba Sri Chand to pay his respects. In 1920, the Diwan for the first time took a Jatha (group) of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs to India and visited various Hindu and Sikh places of worship in India. The Jatha filled about fifteen to twenty coaches of the train in Peshawar. The Jatha visited Panja Sahib, Nankana Sahib, Dera Sahib (Lahore), Darbar Sahib (Amritsar), Badrinath, Haridwar and Ayodhya."

"Diwan Niranjan Das died at the age of sixty-five in 1932. His brother, Diwan Sadhu Ram was the deputy Governor of Kandahar."

................................................................................................

"The Afghan economy

"Mohammed Ali (1958) mentions an intriguing point about the discovery of the sea route between Europe and South Asia in 1498 which affected the prosperity of medieval Afghanistan. According to him, prior to this discovery, the cities of Balkh, Bukhara and Samarkand were part of the famous Silk Route and were very prosperous28. However, until the late 18th century, Afghanistan had seaports by virtue of being part of Persia and Mughal India. In early and mid-18th century the Hotak and Durranis established a big Empire and had seaports. It was only during the reign of Timur Durrani (1772–93) that it became landlocked. Nevertheless, the British writers from the 19th century note traders and merchants doing a brisk business in the country.

"The Suez Canal was formally opened in 1869 and it reduced the distance between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea by almost 7,000 km. Afghanistan could not avail any benefits from it but neither did most of Asia and Africa as they were colonies of European powers. However, there is some truth that being a landlocked country has been disadvantageous to Afghanistan. It has to rely on either of its two neighbouring countries to act as a transit for import and export of goods. Even during the relatively peaceful era of Zahir Shah (1933–73), the country was far from being self-reliant and was dependent on foreign aid. In present times, in the absence of Pakistan’s consent, India has been sending its exports to Iran from where they are then sent to Afghanistan over land."

................................................................................................

"Ischer Dass, an Afghan Hindu settled in Germany wrote Die Gefahrten Afghanistans in 2003 in German. ... "

"The Afghans have been very close to their faith and this also includes the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. Ischer Dass interestingly writes that in the 1970s, Afghanistan became very liberal and during this period most of the temples and Gurdwaras were rebuilt. The Hindus and the Sikhs contributed from their pockets for this venture. The electric cables were modernised and the best building blocks, marble and carpets were used.

"Dass writes that in Afghanistan the mosques get free water, electricity and are not subject to taxation. However, this benefit was not extended to temples and Gurdwaras. They were registered in the name of certain people and hence deemed as private property who had to pay for the utilities and appropriate taxes."

................................................................................................

"Temples in Kabul

"Asamai Mandir, according to the western writers is the temple of the ‘Lady of Hope’. The word Asah (or Asha) means hope and Mai means Lady. Dass writes that the history of this temple is as old as the history of Afghanistan. The temple was located in the cave at Asamai Mountain. The Pandava brothers (of Mahabharata) are said to have visited and worshipped at this place.

"The Hindus would go up the mountain especially during the Navratri (literally, nine nights) festival week and come down again after praying. Amir Abdul Rahman Khan (reign 1880–1901) granted permission to build a temple on the lower side of the mountain. Khurana writes that the Amir sent a palki (palanquin) for the idol and building materials. The new temple had a rivulet next to it and when the idol would be bathed in milk, it would get mixed with the water downhill and look like a stream of milk. This place also came to be known as Zu-e-Sheer (stream of milk)."

Author doesn't realise that Sheer for milk is directly from, and very close to, Sanskrit word for milk, Ksheera. Obviously Pashto isn't foreign to India but is yet another daughter of Sanskrit language, the ancient and living language of India.

................................................................................................

"Dass writes that in 1982 the front building of the Asamai temple (lower side of the mountain) with a double storey and basement was built. Every year during the festival of Diwali, high government officials join the ceremonies and celebrations. Special prayers are held every Tuesday and Friday.

"In 2006, a Mandir was constructed at the hilltop and was funded by Ehsan Bayat, an Afghan Muslim and founder of the Bayat Foundation, a charity which works for water projects and better healthcare and education for Afghan women and families.

................................................................................................

"Yogi Rattan, a Nath Panth ascetic that follows Gorakhnath’s monastic order came to Kabul from India and spent the last few years of his life in the city. The Dargah Peer Rattan Nath Mandir is dedicated to him. The temple is located in Jada Maiwand area of Kabul and according to Dass, it was built during the rule of Timur Shah (reign 1772–93). Dass adds that prior to this structure there was a small, old temple here from the seventh or eighth century. Yogi Rattan Nath came and started preaching at this ancient temple. A complaint was made to the ruler that a Hindu is preaching and the Yogi proved his mettle by performing a miracle.

"Khurana states that the Dargah is about 840 years old. Like Gorakhnath, there is little consensus among historians regarding the lifespan of Rattan Nath. There is a Dargah Mandir in his name in Ghazni, Jalalabad, Peshawar, New Delhi and other places in India. In Bathinda (East Punjab), he is known as Haji Pir Rattan Nath, a Muslim! However, there is a general consensus that he passed away in Kabul."

................................................................................................

"Jalalabad

"Khurana mentions that Sheva near Jalalabad has a place dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. It is alleged that this is illegally occupied by miscreants from the majority community. Near it, a place in Darai Nur district has a stream which is known as RamKund. One side of the stream has hot and the other side has cold water. Devotees come and bathe in the stream.

"Mathura Das emigrated from India to Afghanistan. He chose Sultanpur (near Jalalabad) as his new home and started giving sermons. He built a prayer house about thirty square metres large which had four gates. After his death, a tomb was built here. In 1971, the Hindu community erected a new building by replacing the old structure. After the Dargah Peer Rattan Nath and the Asamai Temple in Kabul, this is the third largest Hindu temple in Afghanistan. The fundamentalists destroyed and burnt the temple Dargah Mathura Dass in Jalalabad on 7th September 1992. Following the defeat of the Taliban, it has been rebuilt.

"Saathi in his book has written in some detail about the Hindus in Jalalabad. Most of the Hindus in the city had surnames like Lund, Kakar, Sachdev, Sehgal, Ahuja, Khanna and Puri. The Dargah Mandir had a big hall with a stage where the Ramayana, the Geeta and the Simritis (holy books) were placed and read to the congregation (prior to the exodus). The Hindus celebrated a number of festivals namely Krishna Janamashtami, Ram Navami, Eka Darshi, Shivratri, Holi, Diwali, Lohri, Puranmashi, Navratri, Rakhi, Bhaiya Dooj, Karva Chauth and Tuesday fasting among others. The congregation would gather on Tuesdays and Sundays. The prasad was given to the devotees. Occasionally, a bhandara was organised. Gosain Manmohan Das, the main organiser is commended in the book for implementing a number of improvements and the astute running of the Mandir.

"Saathi has shared a very interesting incident regarding the Sikhs and Hindus in Jalalabad. In February 1954, the local authorities at Jalalabad called in the Sikh leaders and communicated the government’s decision on the modernisation plan for Jalalabad which involved extending and enlarging the road network. The Gurdwara had come under the plan and the Sikhs were asked to vacate the premises so that it could be demolished to make way for the new road. The Sikhs were given land in the garden of Dargah Mandir to build their place of worship. The Sikhs protested and served prison terms for it, but the authorities did not budge. With no option left the Sikhs started building the Gurdwara in the garden. However, the Hindus objected when the Sikhs took a decision to cut the existing Peepal trees which the former considered as scared. Without cutting the trees the Gurdwara building could not be extended. This resulted in rare clashes between a section of Sikhs and Hindus. This was reported to seniors of the community who approached their peers in Kabul. The Hindus and Sikhs of Jalalabad and Kabul made a joint petition to the Emperor and requested that the Gurdwara should be handed back to the Sikhs as this issue was causing discontent among Hindus and Sikhs which was not in the best interest of the country (these communities were into money lending, local banking and business). Emperor Zahir Shah patiently listened to them and issued a royal edict and the Gurdwara was handed back to the Sikhs. The transport plan was changed, and the new road did not touch the Gurdwara2."

................................................................................................

"Zabul

"Mandir Shiv Bhulaan in Qalati Ghiliji is an ancient temple located near Qalati Ghiliji or simply Qalat which is the capital of Zabul province in Southern Afghanistan.

"Khurana writes that one must go on their knees to reach this place. The place has idols of the Hindu God Shiva. In absence of any light in the cave-temple, devotees carry a torch with them. There is a stream of water where devotees take bath.

"Hadden uses the name Ghar Bolan Baba for this temple and states that it is at an altitude of 1,795 metres. He adds that the cave was beautiful with natural rock formations and was used by the Hindus as a place of worship. We are told that the Hindus coloured the stalagmites (conical pillar rising from the cave floor) in red and yellow3."

................................................................................................

"Ghazni

"Khurana mentions an ancient cave temple on a hill in a Dargah near Ghazni which is still visited by the Hindu devotees. Qarabagh district has an ancient temple dedicated to a Goddess. It is said that there was a ‘stream of milk’ nearby but not anymore. It may have dried up. This place is also known as Sheer (milk in Dari language). Qarabagh also has well known Buddhist caves.

"The Hindus had left the keys of Dargah Peer Rattan Nath Mandir in Ghazni with the Sikhs who cleaned it once a week, put on a jot/deva (a traditional lamp made of clay, with a cotton wick which is burned in ghee or vegetable oil) on Tuesday4. Latest information received states that there is a Hindu priest now looking after this Mandir5."

................................................................................................

"Kandahar"

"Prior to 1992, there were over 5,000 Hindus in Kandahar and there were at least fourteen temples3. Now, the number of Hindus is less than ten. Like most of the country, these individuals now stay in a Gurdwara in Kandahar due to lack of housing. In addition, most if not all temples are occupied by miscreants from the majority community.

"Despite best efforts, there is scarce information about the Hindu temples in Kandahar. A number of Afghan Hindus developed cold feet when revealed that the information provided by them would be included in a book. The fear of giving wrong information along with the fact that the author to them was an unknown entity deterred them. Although it was not stated explicitly, there seems to be a general fear among locals not to ‘rock the boat’."

Author nevertheless lists over a dozen important temples.

"Devi Dwara outside Kandahar city in the district is dedicated to the Goddess Durga. There is a Shivala Mandir nearby as well. These two places of worship are informed to be under the Hindus. In their vicinity, are the famous Chehel Dokhtaran hills.

"Chehel means forty and Dokhtaran means girls. During the reign of Amir Abdur Rahman (1880–1901), any rebellion was brutally suppressed. He led many campaigns against the Hazaras who are of Shia Muslim faith and have partial Mongolian features (especially the eyes) which make them easily recognisable. They face a lot of discrimination in Afghanistan. In one such campaign, it is said that forty young Hazara women were resisting the troops but when cornered at the top of Shashpar Mountains, they jumped from the top and died rather than getting arrested and risk violation of their dignity and modesty. The mountains were covered with blood and were later named Chehel Dokhtaran."

History of India is replete with legends of several similar occurrences, usually individual, but in case of Queen Padmini of Chittor, involving all women of Chittor preferring to climb funeral pyres live rather than submit to the army fighting their men in a last battle, of the war waged because Allauddin Khilji demanded that Queen Padmini be handed over by her husband.

................................................................................................

"The vast majority of Mandirs and Gurdwaras outside Kabul, Jalalabad and Ghazni, if not all, are now under illegal occupation of the miscreants from the majority community. The thousand odd Afghan Sikh and Hindu population has now dwindled and concentrated in Kabul, Jalalabad and Ghazni only."

................................................................................................

Strange omission of the name of the last mentioned leader of the nation he claims his own, by the author who has gone one painstakingly mentioning every Sikh name he can think of!

Obviously this author has issues in agreement with US, hence his use of quotes in ‘Soviet Intervention’.

................................................................................................

"In 1988, on the first day of the Vaisakhi Samagham1 at Jalalabad, the Sangat were going to Langar (community kitchen) when suddenly a man with an AK-47 rifle entered the Gurdwara complex and started firing at the devotees. Then as he tried to enter the Gurdwara Hall, Daler Singh, a Sikh soldier stood in front of him and shot all his bullets killing the assailant. However, in the process, Singh received several bullet injuries and died as well. In total, thirteen Sikhs and four Afghan Muslim soldiers were killed."

A lonely crazed perpetrator, very like incidents common to US, that - but nothing like what has been faced by nonmuslims of Kashmir, whether in 1947 or 1989 - 90 onwards, with systematic massacres and a deliberately intended ethnic cleansing of the region put in motion by pakis using terrorist exfiltration, to promote their intended land grab.

................................................................................................

"The next day was Election Day for the Parliament in Afghanistan. In Jalalabad, Bhai Darbari Singh was contesting the election. In Kabul, Gajinder Singh Rangila and Lala Tek Chand Sarin were in the fray. However, the above incident left a deep impact on the minds of the Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan and many did not come out to vote. Only Gajinder Singh Rangila was able to win his seat.

"It was also the first time that Afghan TV broadcast Gurbani for half an hour where Bhai Amarjeet Singh Taan sang Awal Allah Noor Upaya and Khalsa Mero Roop Hai Khas. During Vaisakhi, Radio Kabul and Nangarhar would broadcast a special programme where people were informed about the Sikh religion and Guru Nanak2.

"Eminent Indian journalist Shekhar Gupta went to Kabul in May 1988, a month after the Sikh killings in Jalalabad and wrote his observations of Kabul currency market for the India Today magazine. The city’s money market was described as Kabul’s stock exchange, national reserve bank and social hubbub all rolled into one. In this unique market he saw currency notes piled high on shop counters and people walking in, accompanied by labourers carrying gunny bags full of cash on their backs! The officials estimated that seven to eight million dollars exchanged hands in the market every day. The majority of the thousand odd businessmen and jobbers were Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. Gupta notes that their acumen and honesty has made these people the richest community of Afghanistan. It seemed that the killings in Jalalabad a month ago had failed to deter the resilient community3.

................................................................................................

"In 1989 the Mujahideen surrounded Jalalabad and started attacking it with rockets and this continued for nine months. People lost lives and left the city to escape the bombardment. During this time a rocket fell on the Gurdwara Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib where a congregation had gathered. Seventeen Sikhs were killed and the Gurdwara was damaged. Following this incident, a lot of Sikhs and Hindus left the city and went to Kabul and Peshawar."

Obviously they were jihadists as the then president of Afghanistan had feared, inviting Soviet Union to help, and not 'freedom fighters' by any definition of either word.

"However, eleven months hence in April 1989, the India Today reported that the 50,000 odd Sikhs and Hindus who dominate the foreign trade and the money exchange business, were living in fear in Afghanistan."

It's unclear if author questions the said report.

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"The war with the Mujahideen in Jalalabad had led the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus to leave the city. Most of the community in Kandahar, Khost and Jalalabad were now in Kabul. The community was unhappy that the Indian Embassy in Kabul was ‘much too stingy in issuing visas’ allegedly at the behest of Afghan government as any large-scale departure of the community from Afghanistan would burst the official bubble that there was no panic in Kabul. The Indian Embassy had not replaced the six top diplomats, including the ambassador, who had left in the recent past. The Embassy was operating on a skeletal staff led by four diplomats4."

Again, that exposes the lie about jihadists having been freedom fighters - obviously, if the two religious minority communities were certain of their roots and nevertheless left, while equally obviously most of majority community could not, the cause could not be freedom fighters but had to be religious zealots intending an ethnic cleansing via genocides that they intendedto perpetrate across the region, and did so perpetrate in Kashmir.

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"In 1992, the Mujahideen won the last bastion, the capital Kabul. A large number of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan started the exodus and left the country for good. ... "

" ... Within a few months, when Rabani took the helm of affairs in the country, the Mujahideen factions revolted and the country plunged into yet another civil war5."

Shows their true character doesn't that.

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"Gajinder Singh was the Member of Parliament in Afghanistan from 1988–92. He played a pivotal role in 1992, working with Dr Najibullah Ahmadzai, the President of Afghanistan to get a safe passage for the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus.

"The relations between Afghanistan and India were always cordial. It was felt that under the fundamentalist Mujahideen (who were supported by Pakistan and USA) life would become very difficult for the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. These fears proved right later on as within months Afghanistan plunged into civil war when the Mujahideen factions started fighting among themselves.

"At that time it was extremely bureaucratic to obtain a passport for anyone in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the Afghan government issued speedier passports to the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs and called the scheme Aab Gang (Aab means water, Gang is river Ganga) pilgrimage passport. It was on the lines of the Haj visa for Muslims issued by Saudi Arabia.

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"The Indian embassy set up an on-the-go visa department at Gurdwara Guru Har Rai Sahib in Shor Bazaar in Kabul to rapidly issue visas without any checks so that the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs could flee the civil war. It was too dangerous for people living in the old town to travel to the Indian embassy in the centre of the town because of the dangers of bombardment all over Kabul. The Indian embassy did not have enough staff to put the visa stamps so some Afghan Sikh volunteers at the Gurdwara had to put visa stamps on people’s passports. Close to 50,000 people left Afghanistan and came to India under this scheme6.

"The above major exodus of the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in 1992 happened just before the Mujahideen captured the capital Kabul5. Within a year, the Mujahideen factions started fighting among themselves and the country plunged into yet another civil war.

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"Life under the Taliban

"By 1996, the Taliban, a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist group had captured most of Afghanistan and when they captured Kabul in September that year, 90 percent of the country was under them except for the parts of Northern Afghanistan. There is a remarkable anecdote of courage and determination displayed by the Afghan Sikhs during this period in Jalalabad7."

Why author does not candidly admit their origin is unfathomable, especially decades after a once dictator paki military chief having asserted on public television that the said taliban were asked by him personally to cross the border and take over Afghanistan.

He gives a slight variation instead.

"The original Taliban were from the Kandahar region of Afghanistan. However, they were people from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia within their ranks as well. These Taliban (not the Afghan ones) would spit on the road at the sight of the Sikhs. The Sikhs wore a distinct style of turban and most of them would tie their beard, unlike the natives. The untrimmed moustaches of Sikh men were another distinction. The Sikhs were disgusted at this behaviour but tolerated it as they were the minuscule minority and the Taliban had guns with them."

Author refrains from explaining where the weapons, modern and expensive, originated. This support of wrecking Afghanistan played havoc with economies of the two nations that perpetrated the taliban insertion, and it's the poor of the said two nations - Pakistan and their financers - who suffered. One US president even went to ridiculous length of claiming that US poor suffered from food related shortages because poor of India were no longer starving!

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"One fine day in late 1996/97 at Tanda Bazaar in Jalalabad, the Sikhs were running their shops (cloth, grocery, Greco-Arabic medicine clinics) when a group of Taliban guards entered the bazaar and as usual one of them spit at a Sikh who was standing outside his cloth shop. Rather than spitting on the ground which was the norm, this Taliban spat on the face of the Sikh shopkeeper. This infuriated the Sikh as this act had crossed all limits of decency. He pulled his metre rod (used to measure cloth) which is made of steel and hit the Taliban on his head. The guard was not expecting such a reaction and after recovering from the shock he and the other guards pulled up their automatic rifles at the Sikh shopkeeper. By this time, the other Sikh traders from nearby shops gathered at the site and they scuffled with the Taliban guards and grabbed their rifles. The Taliban ran away and the Sikhs started shouting the Sikh slogan (known as Jaikara) ‘Jo Bole So Nihal Sat Shri Akaal’8.

"The matter was reported to the local Taliban chief who was an Afghan. He was aware of the Sikh religion and listened to both sides of the story. The Sikhs told him that they just wanted to run their shops but could not tolerate the humiliations meted out by the Talibanis. They added that though the rifles are the property of the Taliban, they were snatched in self-defence by the Sikhs during the scuffle. The chief disapproved of the spitting and it was decided that the Taliban initiated the fight and the Sikhs defended themselves. The Taliban guard who had spat expressed his ignorance about the Sikh religion."

Ignorance is no excuse for the behaviour.

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"Although it was not said in so many words, the Hanafi School of Islam allowed non-Muslims to live as Dhimmis (protected status) subject to the payment of Jizya. The Taliban chief asked how his men could differentiate the Sikhs from others. The chief was told about the Sikh religion and the turban but he was only interested to find a way for his men to differentiate between local Muslims and non-Muslims (Sikhs and Hindus). The Afghan Sikhs were told that they need to have a Khanda (symbol of Sikh faith) outside their houses. There were about fifty to sixty Afghan Sikh-Hindu families in Jalalabad and they felt that this would lead to ‘target attacks’. This was not taken forward. The Afghan Hindus were asked to wear caps and yellow tilak (mark on the forehead) While the Afghan Hindu and Sikh women were asked to put a bindi (coloured dot in the centre of the forehead) and wear a chador (a cloak which covered the upper part of the body)."

In recent events, Afghanistan again suffers from US not only having left them at nonexistent mercy of taliban exfiltrated from across Durand Line, but having left billions of dollars worth equipment including weapons for taking for taliban.

"All shopkeepers including Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were strictly told that they should not serve any woman who was not accompanied by an adult male from the family (husband, father or son only). If a woman was seen on the road alone then the Taliban would whip her. ... "

In rest of the paragraph author minimizes sufferings of Afghanistan under taliban, despite reality being known far more explicitly via not only reporting from other sources but also through writings by Afghan authors, such as Khalid Hosseini of Thousand Suns fame.

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"Five years later when the Taliban was defeated in October 2001, television transmission was resumed. The first broadcast after over five years was music and the news was co-presented by two Afghan women. It was a symbolic gesture as women and music were both shunned out of public life in the country under the Taliban. The first lines of the broadcast were, ‘Greetings, viewers, we hope you are all well! We’re glad to have destroyed terrorism and the Taliban and to be able to present this programme to you’9.

"With international support, Afghanistan started rebuilding its infrastructure and within a few years a number of private channels began airing."

A hope horribly massacred by US in leaving Afghanistan again at mercy of paki terrorists as of a little over a year ago.

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" ... The vast majority of Afghan Sikh and Hindu places of worship outside Kabul, Jalalabad and Ghazni are now illegally occupied by the local Muslim population4.

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"Terror revisits Jalalabad

"On 1st July 2018, in a suicide bombing at Jalalabad, fifteen Afghan Sikhs and four Afghan Hindus were killed. They had been travelling in a vehicle to meet President Ashraf Ghani, who was visiting Nangarhar province when the bomber struck. Among those killed was the one Sikh candidate who had planned to contest October’s parliamentary elections, Avatar Singh Khalsa6 and his close associate Rawail Singh. Both of them had served in the Afghan National Army and provided leadership to the Afghan Sikhs and Hindu community. They could have left the country long ago but continued to stay to look after the interests of the remaining members of the community. Many important Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were killed as well that took away almost the entire leadership of the community. Subsequently, few families went to India to seek refugee status."

It should read "Subsequently, a few families went to India to seek refugee status."

"This cowardly act was widely condemned within and outside Afghanistan. A protest march was taken out in Kabul by locals in support of the Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. Similar peaceful protests were arranged across the globe. Dr Shaida Abdali, the Afghan Ambassador to India tweeted: ‘I’m really short of words to express our shock and sadness on the loss of our most patriotic Afghans in Jalalabad – the least I can say: it was indeed an attack on Afghan patriotism, religious freedom, diversity, democracy, Indo-Afghan friendship and shared values.’

"Three days after this suicide attack, some miscreants came outside the Bhai Mansa Singh Gurdwara in Kabul at night and tried to force their way into the premises. They shouted and kicked the gate a number of times. Unable to break the gate, they shouted ‘kafirs’ and fired a few times in the air. Land in Kabul is expensive and the Gurdwaras in Kabul are relatively big and seen as lucrative property. Like other Gurdwaras in Kabul, it houses a number of Sikh families. Some miscreants probably thought that they can use suicide bombing as an opportunity to further terrify the residents and later grab the property. It was reported to the local police the next day."

" ... Dr Anarkali Honaryar, the former Sikh woman parliamentarian who is also from the Khost community and Narinder Pal Singh Khalsa are now perhaps the only known names left in the community.