Fighting hate can’t be selective exercise: India at UN after Kabul gurdwara attack

Jun 21,2022

Fighting hate can’t be selective exercise: India at UN after Kabul gurdwara attack

In his message to the Afghan Hindu-Sikh community after Saturday's attack on a Kabul gurdwara, PM Narendra Modi wrote, "I would also like to offer my prayers for the victims of the terror attack, Late Shri Sawinder Singh and gurdwara employee Ahmed Moradi, an Afghan citizen. I extend my heartfelt condolences to their family members."

At the UN, participating in adebate on hate speech, Indian ambassador TS Tirumurti condemned the "cowardly, dastardly" attack, saying this was "a terrible" example of hate crime. He also reiterated India's position that there cannot be "double standards" on religiophobia and combating it should not be a "selective exercise" involving only one or two religions but also apply equally to non-Abrahamic religions.

Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul's Bagh-e Bala neighbourhood on Saturday became the latest target of attack on minority communities' places of worship in Afghanistan. The Islamic State-Khorasan had claimed responsibility for the attack that killed two persons, including one Sikh community member. According to the terror group, 'Abu Moham- med al Tajiki' carried out the attack which lasted three hours. It claimed that besides submachine guns and hand grenades, four IEDs and a car bomb were also used in the attack.
Following the attack, India had given e-visas to more than 100 Sikhs and Hindus living in Afghanistan. Many of them are expected to arrive here later this week in a special flight.
Meanwhile, the 'Antim Ar- das' (final prayers) for the Afghan Sikh killed in the terror attack was held in Delhi on Monday. Singh's family members paid their tributes to the departed soul at Gurdwara Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji in Tilak Nagar.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri met the family and read out Modi's letter to them. "Paid my condolence to Sdr Arjeet Singh Ji, the son of Shaheed Sardar Sawinder Singh ji who attained Shaheedi (martyrdom) in the cowardly attack on Gurdwara Karte Parwan in Kabul. Interacted with other members of the bereaved family during the Antim Ardas today," Puri said in a tweet. A delegation from the Afghan embassy, including Afghan ambassador to India Farid Mamundzay, was also present. Singh's son arrived from Birmingham, England, on Sunday to perform the last rites of his father.