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Sikhism in Afghanistan

Afghan Sikhs
ਅਫ਼ਗ਼ਾਨਿਸਤਾਨ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਿੱਖ ਧਰਮ
سهکزم در افغانستان
Karte Parwan Gurdwara in Kabul, Afghanistan
Total population
43[1]
0.0001% of total population (2022)
200,000 - 500,000 (diaspora)[2][3][4][5][6]
Regions with significant populations
 India9,194-75,000[7]
 United Kingdom>10,000[8]
 Russia2,000[9]
 Afghanistan43[1]
Religions
Sikhism
Languages
Pashto • Dari • Hindko
Punjabi • Hindi • Urdu
Part of a series of articles on
Religion in Afghanistan
Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif
The largest mosque in Afghanistan
Majority
Sunni Islam
Minority
Historic/Extinct
Controversy
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah met Afghan Hindus and Sikhs community at Embassy of Afghanistan, in New Delhi
Part of a series on
Sikhism
Khanda
Sikh gurus
Selected revered saints
Philosophy
Practices
Scripture
Places and Takhts
General topics
Sikhism and other religions
Afghan Sikhs

Sikhism in Afghanistan in the contemporary era is limited to small populations, primarily in major cities, with the largest numbers of Afghan Sikhs living in Jalalabad, Ghazni, Kabul, and to a lesser extent in Kandahar and Khost.[10] Sikhs have been the most prevalent non-Muslim minority in Afghanistan, and despite the many political changes in recent Afghan history, governments and political groups have generally not indulged in openly discriminating against the Sikh minority; however, their status have been severely impacted amid the country's conflict since 1978.[11]

The origin of the Sikh community in Afghanistan has broadly two streams, including indigenous Pashto and Dari speakers, descendants of converts to the teaching of the Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak during his trip to Kabul around 1520.[12] The second stream derive from the later Sikh Empire as it pushed westward, establishing trading routes for Sikh merchants into Kandahar and Kabul; this group speak Hindko, a dialect of Punjabi.[12] Due to this mixed ancestry, Afghan Sikhs are from various ethnolinguistic backgrounds including Pashtun,[13][14] Hindkowan or Punjabi.

Once numbering between 200,000 and 500,000 (1.8% to 4.6% of the national population, making it among the largest of any country at that time) in the 1970s,[2][3][4][5][6] their population in Afghanistan has dwindled since the Afghan wars began.[15] Estimates of their total population (there has been no census in Afghanistan since 1979) have been given as around 1,200 families or 8,000 members in 2013;[16] 1,000 in 2019 (as reported by Afghan Sikh Wolesi Jirga member Narinder Singh Khalsa); and around 70 to 80 families or 700 in 2020 (as reported by Raj Sutaka, a Sikh businessman from Kabul).[17] Thousands of Afghan Sikhs now live in India,[18] the United Kingdom,[19] the United States,[20] and Canada.[21]

  1. ^ a b Paul, GS (25 September 2022). "Taliban again refuse to permit Sikh holy scriptures to accompany Afghan Sikhs, Hindus". The Tribune India. Archived from the original on 25 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022. As of now, 43 Sikhs and Hindus were still left back in Afghanistan
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Goyal2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Kumar2017A was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Kumar2017B was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference tolonews2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Friel2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ IP Singh (23 December 2019). "Punjab: No clarity on exact number of Afghan Sikhs in India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 July 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  8. ^ Pritpal Singh (21 May 2017). "HINDU KUSH TO THAMES". Youtube. Archived from the original on 7 July 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  9. ^ Valva Bezhan (25 December 2017). "Moscow's 'Little Kabul'". Radio Free Europe. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  10. ^ U.S. State Department (14 September 2007). "Afghanistan - International Religious Freedom Report 2007". The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affair. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  11. ^ "Blood in the Abode of Peace: The attack on Kabul's Sikhs". Afghanistan Analysts Network - English (in Pashto). 1 April 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  12. ^ a b "A Precarious State: the Sikh Community in Afghanistan - AIIA". Australian Institute of International Affairs. The origin of the Sikh community in Afghanistan has broadly two streams. There are those who are descendants of converts to the teaching of Guru Nanak –Sikhism's founder – during his trip to Kabul, recorded to be around 1520. These Sikhs are Pashto or Dari speakers, ethnically indigenous to the region, and potentially from groups who did not adopt Islam as the religion became regionally dominant between the 9th and 13th centuries. The second stream derive from the short-lived Sikh Empire (1799–1849) as it pushed westward, gaining control of territory to the Khyber Pass and Sikh merchants established trading routes into Kandahar and Kabul. This group speak Hindko, a dialect of Punjabi that is mostly found around Peshawar, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in north-west Pakistan.
  13. ^ Eusufzye, Khan Shehram (2018). "Two identities, twice the pride: The Pashtun Sikhs of Nankana Saheb". Pakistan Today. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020. One can sense a diminutive yet charming cultural amalgamation in certain localities within the town with the settling of around 250 Pashtun Sikh families in the city.
    Ruchi Kumar, The decline of Afghanistan's Hindu and Sikh communities Archived 21 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Al Jazeera, 2017-01-01, "the culture among Afghan Hindus is predominantly Pashtun"
    Beena Sarwar, Finding lost heritage Archived 6 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Himal, 2016-08-03, "Singh also came across many non turban-wearing followers of Guru Nanak in Pakistan, all of Pashtun origin and from the Khyber area."
    Sonia Dhami, Sikh Religious Heritage – My visit to Lehenda Punjab Archived 28 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Indica News, 2020-01-05, "Nankana Sahib is also home to the largest Sikh Pashtun community, many of whom have migrated from the North West Frontier Provinces, renamed Khyber-Pakhtunwa."
    Neha, Pak misusing Durand Line to facilitate terrorists, says Pashtun Archived 25 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Siasat Daily, 2019-09-20, "The members of the Pashtun and Afghan Sikh community living in Europe and UK have gathered in Geneva"
    Sabrina Toppa, Despite border tensions, Indian Sikhs celebrate festival in Pakistan Archived 25 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, TRT World, 2019-04-16, "Hasanabdal is home to around 200 Sikh families that have primarily moved from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including Pakistan’s former tribal areas. The majority are Pashtun Sikhs who abandoned their homes and took refuge near Sikhism’s historical sites."
  14. ^ Shaista Wahab, Barry Youngerman. A Brief History of Afghanistan Archived 14 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine Infobase Publishing, 2007. ISBN 0-8160-5761-3, ISBN 978-0-8160-5761-0. Pg18
  15. ^ "Explainer: who are the Afghan Sikhs?". The Conversation. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pajhwok was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ "Solidarity for Sikhs after Afghanistan massacre". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Afghanistan's Dwindling Sikh Community Escapes to India". Voice of America. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  19. ^ "Why are Afghan Sikhs desperate to flee to the UK?". BBC. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  20. ^ "'It feels really nice to be here': Sikh refugee families facing persecution in Afghanistan arrive in Calgary". CBC. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  21. ^ "Attacked at home, Afghan Sikhs find community in New York". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 December 2022.

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