Explosion rocks Sikh man’s shop near Kabul gurdwara; kin in Delhi call for India’s help

Harjeet Singh, the Sikh man in whose shop the explosion happened, said, “Someone placed a time bomb in my shop near the Karte Parwan gurdwara. Luckily I was away to have lunch when the explosion ripped through my shop. A few minutes before that I was sitting at my shop… Suddenly we heard a loud bang and there was a deafening explosion in my shop. This is what my country, and my Kabul, has been reduced to.”

Watch: A time bomb exploded in the shop of a Sikh shopkeeper at Kabul in Afghanistan near Karte Parwan gurdwara few minutes back. Members of Sikh and Hindu community reportedly safe @IndianExpress @iepunjab pic.twitter.com/JRXG01ACgD

— Divya Goyal (@divya5521) July 27, 2022

In Delhi, Jagandeep Singh, who lost his father Sawinder Singh in the June 18 terror attack, said that he could not afford to lose more members of his family. “Harjeet Singh, in whose shop the explosion happened today, is my maternal uncle. Luckily he was out to have lunch when the explosion rocked his shop. But enough is enough. We cannot afford to lose more people to this violence and fear all the time. We urge the Indian government to evacuate remaining Sikhs and Hindus at the earliest.”

Chhabol Singh, an Afghan Sikh who shifted to Delhi, said that nearly 130 Sikhs and Hindus were there in the neighbouring country. “While some of them have Indian visas, others do not. Most of them are family members and those who have visas are not ready to come without their families. We urge the Indian government to issue visas for all the Sikhs and Hindus remaining in Kabul,” he said.

After the June 18 gurdwara attack, 32 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus landed in New Delhi in two batches, after being evacuated by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which paid for their air travel.