Avtar Singh was the only Sikh candidate running in Jalalabad's October 20 parliamentary elections A suicide bomb attack in a city in eastern Afghanistan where President Ashraf Ghani was visiting killed at least 19 people, including the only Sikh candidate in upcoming legislative elections, officials said on Sunday. The attacker struck a market located hundreds of metres from the provincial governor's compound where Ghani was holding meetings, governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. Of the 19 killed, 17 were Sikhs and Hindus, provincial health director Najibullah Kamawal told AFP. Another 20 people were wounded in the attack. Avtar Singh, the only Sikh candidate running in the October 20 parliamentary and district council elections, was among the dead, an Indian embassy official said. In a statement the embassy condemned the "cowardly terrorist" attack. Avtar Singh Khalsa would have been the first Sikh in Afghan parliament this Oct. Deeply saddened. He was martyred in a cowardly terror attack. An ecosystem which utilizes terror as an instrument to achieve different objectives is in & of itself doomed to fail. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/zTO9rY0LRC — Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) July 2, 2018 The attack was claimed by ISIS. There were scenes of anguish at the hospital where grieving relatives wept and hugged each other as they waited for news of their loved ones. "It is over for us, we are finished, they have massacred us, at least 10 of us," a man told AFP, too upset to give his name. Small communities of Sikhs and Hindus reside in what is otherwise an overwhelmingly Muslim nation. It is not clear if they were the intended target of the attack. Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish confirmed a suicide bomber carried out the attack -- the latest in a series of recent deadly assaults in the restive province. Jalalabad Attack: 17 Sikhs, Hindus have died in the attack in Jalalabad, Afghanistan (AFP) Ghani's spokesman said the president was still in Nangarhar but was "away from danger". Ghani arrived in Jalalabad earlier Sunday to open a hospital, part of a two-day visit to the province bordering Pakistan. Ceasefire Ends The attack came a day after Ghani ordered Afghan security forces to resume offensive operations against the Taliban following the expiry of the government's 18-day ceasefire. The government's unilateral truce overlapped with the Taliban's three-day ceasefire for Eid, but the terrorists refused to prolong it. The unprecedented ceasefire over the holiday capping Ramadan triggered spontaneous street celebrations involving Taliban fighters, security forces, and war-weary civilians. But it was marred by two suicide attacks in Nangarhar that killed dozens of people and were claimed by ISIS, which has a smaller but relatively potent presence in Afghanistan. ISIS was not part of the ceasefire. At least 19 people were killed and 21 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus waiting to meet President Ashraf Ghani in the eastern city of Jalalabad (Reuters) The attack comes as US envoy Alice Wells visits Kabul as part of efforts to ratchet up pressure on the Taliban to engage in peace talks. The Taliban have so far ignored Ghani's offer of peace negotiations. Instead, they have insisted on direct talks with the United States, which Washington has repeatedly refused. Wells said that since the Afghan government and United States were willing to start talking without preconditions, the onus was now on the Taliban to respond. "Right now it's the Taliban leaders... who aren't residing in Afghanistan, who are the obstacle to a negotiated political settlement," Wells said in remarks embargoed until Sunday. Wells, who is due to hold talks in Pakistan on Monday, said Islamabad also needed to do more to squeeze the Taliban and get them to the negotiating table. "Pakistan has an important role to play... but we have not yet seen that sustained and decisive action on the part of Islamabad," she said.<doc-sep>Afghan policemen inspect the site of a blast in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan, July 1, 2018. (REUTERS/Parwiz) Afghan policemen inspect the site of a blast in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan, July 1, 2018. (REUTERS/Parwiz) There was an emotion of grief and anger among the people in Punjab as they strongly condemned the killing of at least nineteen people from Sikh and Hindu community in a suicide bomb attack at Jalalabad province in Afghanistan Sunday. Questioning the safety of minority Hindu and Sikh population in war-torn country Afghanistan which has overwhelming Muslim population, the Sikh community in Punjab asked that why the governments have failed to ensure safety of minorities there. They also demanded that culprits behind the deadly attack, suspected to be Islamic State (IS), be immediately identified and action taken against them. Among the deceased were 13 prominent Sikh leaders of Afghanistan including Awtar Singh Khalsa, who was also running for parliamentary elections to represent Sikh and Hindu community. In some cases, children of Sikhs killed in attack are living in India. In other cases, women there are alone now as their husbands are dead. Sikh community has now appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to relax visa norms and unite families already in grief. They have requested Modi to give citizenship of India to Sikh and Hindu minorities living in Afghanistan so that they can come back legally. Amarpreet Singh, Asia-Pacific managing director of Khalsa Aid, a humanitarian-aid relief organization, said that he is in constant touch with the local volunteers in Afghanistan. “At least eleven cremations were performed today. It is a heart-rending moment for Sikh community across the world as people from our community and Hindus have been martyred in Afghanistan. But now we are more concerned about their families who need our support now. Also, there are many Sikh families living in Delhi whose men have been martyred there. Their children were studying and living in India whereas they were in Afghanistan.” Inderjit Singh, Amrik Singh, Anoop Singh, Mehar Singh and Satnam Singh were some of Sikh leaders killed in Afghanistan Sunday but their children are living in Delhi. Read | Jalalabad suicide bombing: IS takes responsibility, embattled Sikh minority thinks of moving to India Raghvir Singh, secretary, Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara Management Committee, Delhi said that they appeal to government to make immediate arrangements to unite grief-stricken families. “Children of some men we lost in attack are here in Delhi. In some cases, their mothers are in Afghanistan. They are fatherless now and we need to unite them with their mothers. In other cases, women there are alone now as their husbands have died. We need to bring them back. We appeal to PM Modi to recognize those families as Indians,” he said. On Monday, an inter-faith meeting was held at Jama Masjid (mosque) of Ludhiana city where Shahi Imam Punjab Habib Ur Rahman along with Prithpal Singh, head sewadar, gurudwara Dukhnivaran Sahib and Jagdish Bajaj, president of Gyan Sthal Temple- collectively condemned the attack. Read | PM Modi condemns terrorist attack in Afghanistan “It was a cowardly attack to suppress minorities in Afghanistan. It was a well-planned conspiracy to terrorize minorities and eliminate their leadership so that they cannot raise their voice for their rights in Afghanistan. The bereaved families of Sikhs and Hindus killed in this attack should be protected now. Their need financial and emotional support both,” said Prithpal Singh, head sewadar, gurudwara Dukhnivaran Sahib. Shahi Imam Punjab Habib Ur Rahman said that the terrorists behind this attack should also be hanged to death. “Killing of Sikhs and Hindus in this cowardly attack has added a black chapter in history of Afghanistan and it can never be erased now. Hindus and Sikhs living in Afghanistan are an integral part of society. They are our brothers. If the terrorists who executed this attack call themselves Muslims, then they do not have any right to say that. Terrorists have no religion,” he said. “Resilience of Afghan Sikhs killed in suicide attack can be gauged from the fact that they chose to live in Afghanistan to look after our community and gurdwaras. Like thousands of others, they too might have fled to US, UK, India or Canada and left Afghanistan, but they chose to stay. They have been martyred,” said Harjinder Singh Kukreja, a Sikh philanthropist from Ludhiana.<doc-sep>A suicide attack in Afghanistan left 19 people dead and 20 wounded on Sunday. The bomber targeted a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus traveling to meet Afghan president Ashraf Ghani in the city of Jalalabad. Avtar Singh Khalsa, a leader in the Sikh community who planned to run for parliamentary elections in October, was killed in the attack, according to AP News. Khalsa was the only Sikh candidate running in the parliamentary elections, and his candidacy drew attention from throughout Afghanistan. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, issuing a statement saying the people in the convoy were targeted for being "polytheists," the Independent reported. The Indian embassy in Kabul condemned the attack, adding that it "again underlines the need for a united global fight against international terrorism without discrimination and accountability of those who support terrorists in any manner." Prior to the rise of the Taliban regime in the 1990s, there were more than 200,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan. Today, only between 3,000 and 7,000 remain. Hindus and Sikhs were granted representation in the country’s parliament in 2016. "I am clear that we cannot live here anymore," said Tejvir Singh, secretary of a national panel of Hindus and Sikhs. "Our religious practices will not be tolerated by the Islamic terrorists. We are Afghans. The government recognises us, but terrorists target us because we are not Muslims," Tejvir Singh continued. Other Sikhs are more set on staying in the country, despite India having issued long-term visas to members of Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu communities, according to Reuters. But other Sikhs, with land or businesses and no ties to India, say they do not plan to leave, as Afghanistan remains their country. India has offered to take the dead bodies, but at least nine were cremated according to Sikh rites in Jalalabad "We are not cowards," said Sandeep Singh, a Sikh shopkeeper in Kabul. "Afghanistan is our country and we are not leaving anywhere." The attack on the convoy occurred less than 24 hours after suspected Islamic State militants targeted a boys’ school in Khogyani district and beheaded three workers. Islamic State continues to have a presence in Nangarhar province, the location of both attacks, despite efforts by Afghan and U.S. forces to remove them from the area. Last month, a joint U.S.-Afghan operation routed Islamic State forces, killing more than 160 militants in part of Nangarhar province.<doc-sep>
Many among Afghanistan’s dwindling Sikh minority are considering leaving for neighbouring India, after a suicide bombing in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday killed at least 13 members of the community. The victims of the attack claimed by militant group Islamic State included Avtar Singh Khalsa, the only Sikh candidate in parliamentary elections this October, and Rawail Singh, a prominent community activist. “I am clear that we cannot live here anymore,” said Tejvir Singh, 35, whose uncle was killed in the blast. “Our religious practices will not be tolerated by the Islamic terrorists. We are Afghans. The government recognises us, but terrorists target us because we are not Muslims,” added Singh, the secretary of a national panel of Hindus and Sikhs. The Sikh community now numbers fewer than 300 families in Afghanistan, which has only two gurdwaras, or places of worship, one each in Jalalabad and Kabul, the capital, Singh added. Although almost entirely a Muslim country, Afghanistan was home to as many as 250,000 Sikhs and Hindus before a devastating civil war in the 1990s. Even a decade ago, the US State Department said in a report, about 3,000 Sikhs and Hindus still lived there. Despite official political representation and freedom of worship, many face prejudice and harassment as well as violence from militant Islamist groups, prompting thousands to move to India, their spiritual homeland. Following the Jalalabad attack, some Sikhs have sought shelter at the city’s Indian consulate. “We are left with two choices: to leave for India or to convert to Islam,” said Baldev Singh, who owns a book- and textile shop in Jalalabad. India has issued long-term visas to members of Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu communities. “They can all live in India without any limitation,” said Vinay Kumar, India’s ambassador to Afghanistan. “The final call has to be taken by them. We are here to assist them.” Kumar, who was in the Indian capital, New Delhi, to discuss the security situation, said the government was helping organise the last rites of Sikhs killed in the blast. ‘We are not leaving’ But other Sikhs, with land or businesses and no ties to India, say they do not plan to leave, as Afghanistan remains their country. India has offered to take the dead bodies, but at least nine were cremated according to Sikh rites in Jalalabad. “We are not cowards,” said Sandeep Singh, a Sikh shopkeeper in Kabul. “Afghanistan is our country and we are not leaving anywhere.” The attack targeted “Afghanistan’s multicultural fabric”, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday. He is expected to hold a meeting to discuss the security threats to Indian and religious minorities. India, a longstanding ally of Afghanistan, has invested in several large development projects, but heightened security risks have prompted its companies to cut back operations. The two countries’ officials have not been able to free seven Indian engineers kidnapped in May in the northern province of Baghlan.