NEW DELHI: Sikhs continue to move into India as attacks on minority communities reportedly increased in Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power in 2021.

On August 3, a group of 30 Sikhs from Afghanistan arrived in India. Several Sikh families who arrived from Afghanistan since 2021 have been accommodated in Guru Arjun Dev Gurdwara in Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, and are being assisted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). Many of them were brought from Kabul to Delhi in private planes of Afghanistan’s Kam Airlines.

At present, arrangements have been made for everyone to stay by the Gurdwara committee. Most of them are Sikhs, who have been living in Afghanistan for many generations and have arrived in India leaving everything behind for the first time.

IANS visited the Gurdwara here and met some Sikh refugees to know how they left their homes, businesses and arrived in India to save their lives.

Dodged the Taliban by pretending to treat the child

Taran Singh, who is 32-year-old, has lived with his family in the Jalalabad area of Afghanistan since childhood. Taran used to run a medicine shop. When the Gurudwara in Kabul was attacked and many Sikhs were killed, he also started worrying about his family. Talking to IANS, Taran Singh said that the Taliban were not allowing him to go to India.

Somehow, he hired a car and left for Kabul with his family and children. On the way, when Talibani authorities asked him the reason for leaving, he told them that his child was ill and had to go to India for treatment. In this way, Taran Singh reached India from Kabul. He is happy to reach Delhi, but he is also sad to have lost his home and shop. Although he says that now he will never go back to Afghanistan.