Attack against minority Sikhs ‘a big crime’; Abdullah

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AT-KABUL: Chief Executive, Abdullah Abdullah, condemned attack against the Sikh community in Jalalabad as “a big crime”.

A suicide bomber targeted a group of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus on Sunday in Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of Nangarhar. Around 19 people were killed in the attack, 13 of whom were Sikhs, while 21 more most of them Sikhs were injured.

Avtar Singh Khalsa, a representative of the Sikh community who was said to have been the only Sikh candidate in the October legislative election was among the killed.

Abdullah urged Monday that the perpetrators of the attack against the Hindus and Sikhs should be immediately identified and punished.

He acknowledged that Sikhs and Hindus were the most suffering of the four-decade war in the country.

“Attack against a religious minority is a big crime and Taliban and other terrorist groups are responsible for the attack. Sikhs and Hindus are Afghan nationals and play significant role in the country’s economy. They had suffered scores of problems during the four-decade war,” said Abdullah.

The Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Members of parliament strongly condemned attack on Sikhs and Hindus, asking the government to return the rights of religious minorities.

Indian Embassy to Kabul in a statement, asked for joint struggle against the international terrorism, saying that terrorism supporters should be responsible.

Attacker on the Sikhs and Hindus was on foot and detonated his explosives among a group of them in the center of the city, according to Attaullah Khogyani, provincial spokesman. But witnesses said it was car bomb.

The attack took place at a time that President Ashraf Ghani was meeting people’s representatives in Jalalabad city.

Ghani left Nangarhar for the adjacent province of Laghman, according to provincial officials.