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US Congress issues bill to resettle persecuted Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan in America

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Describing Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan as “endangered minorities”, a resolution introduced in the US Congress has sought to resettle these persecuted religious communities from the war-torn country to America.

Introduced in the House of Representatives last week by Congresswoman Jackie Speier and co-sponsored by seven others, the resolution supports refugee protection for Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan, noting the “systematic religious persecution, discrimination and existential danger” faced by the members of these communities.

“Sikhs and Hindus are indigenous but endangered minorities in Afghanistan, numbering approximately 700 out of a community that recently included over 8,000 members,” the resolution stated.

Speier said in her resolution that Afghan Hindus and Sikhs have undergone “systematic religious persecution, discrimination” and were in “existential danger”, according to a PTI report carried by New Indian Express.

Her resolution supported resettling the Sikhs and Hindus in the US under the United States Refugee Admissions Programme of the Immigration and Nationality Act and condemned all terrorist attacks, religious persecution and discrimination against these communities.

Drawing attention to the 25 March attack on a gurdwara in Kabul this year that killed 25 persons, she said Islamic terrorists made further efforts to kill the survivors before and after the funerals of the victims.

The resolution also referred to other attacks, including suicide bombing, and said that the violent acts targeted Sikhs and Hindus besides other religious minorities in the war-ravaged nation.

Speier also mentioned reports of the US Department of State and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (IRF) that had documented discrimination against Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan.

The discrimination includes curbs on religious practices, illegal seizure of property, harassment of children sent to public schools, judicial bias against religious minorities, and restrictions on the political rights of religious minorities.

The resolution also pointed out at the routine persecution of the Afghan Sikhs and faulted US President Donald Trump allowing only resettlement of 18,000 refugees in the 2020 financial year.

The former Taliban-led government routinely persecuted and discriminated against the Afghan-Sikh community, restricting their funeral rites and forcing the community to publicly identify themselves by wearing yellow armbands, it said.

“These acts of violence follow a greater pattern of targeted violence against Sikhs, Hindus, and other religious minorities in Afghanistan in recent years,” it said.

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