Category: News

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, December 28,2003: The years of war in Afghanistan has damaged or completely destroyed ancient temples in the country. For instance, the Shor Bizar area of old Kabul — once the Indian heart of the city — is now in ruins. And the area boasts of a 500-year-old Shiv Mandir.  Jitender Sharma, the priest,… Continue reading India Plans to Restore Afghan Hindu Temples

Source KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, December 27, 2003: The draft constitution now being considered by Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga is causing disquiet amongst the Hindu and Sikh community over what they see as its lack of protection for them as minority religious groups. Although what was once a large community has shrunk to just a few thousand, the… Continue reading Afghan Hindus Fear Constitutional Rights Inadequate

Author: Shahabuddin Tarakhel in Kabul Publication: Institute for War & Peace Reporting Date: November 5, 2003 Source Hindu and Sikh community wants to reopen Kabul cemetery for cremations, but locals object. Kabul’s Hindu and Sikh communities are finding it hard to hold funerals because local residents object to open-air cremations. Despite the objections, Afghanistan’s religious… Continue reading Funeral Woes for Hindus

Tomorrow never dies India as a political role model, Dubai as an economic one. Afghanistan has a future as a democratic, free trade zone. It needs luck. And patience MANJEET KRIPALANI Posted online: Thursday, October 02, 2003 at 0000 hours IST For Indians visiting Afghanistan, there’s comfort to be found among their own. In Kabul,… Continue reading Untitled

Source By Sanjoy Majumder BBC News Online correspondent in Kabul Nearly two years after the fall of the Taleban, Afghanistan’s Sikh community is once again trying to establish itself. Sikhs and Hindus share the Dharamsal temple The Sikhs were first brought to Afghanistan by the British in the 19th century and once dominated the Afghan… Continue reading Sikhs struggle in Afghanistan

23 June 2003 Source Three Sikh asylum seekers, who were forcibly returned by the UK, were forced to seek shelter in a Sikh temple in Kabul as they had nowhere else to go. Two of them were originally from Jalalabad but had no idea whether they had any relatives still left in that city and… Continue reading Untitled

Source Amnesty International has today (23 June 2003) singled out the UK, alongside Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours, for criticism for its policy of returning refugees to Afghanistan. The organisation said that the security situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated in 2003, with at least two thirds of the country now in a situation of “generalised instability.” There… Continue reading Afghanistan refugee returns: ‘Out of sight, out of mind’