Kabul Gurudwara Bombing: Devastating Inhumane Attack – A Report

26 March 2020: A violent attack occurred in the Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul in which 24 civilians are reported to be killed and many are left injured. This had been one of the biggest attacks on a Sikh religious institution in the country ever since. The terrorist organization ‘Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’ (ISIL) claimed the responsibility of attack, however the later inquiries considers Haqqani Network with Pakistan’s intelligent agency ISI behind it. Also Taliban, which was initially speculated of involvement, have officially denied all the blames. It must be learned that the news of the attack came few days after when an affiliate of ISIL had attacked a gathering of another minority of Shia Muslims in Kabul in which 32 causalities were confirmed.

The Sikh community in Afghanistan had organized a religious function in the Gurudwara Sri Guru Hari Rai Sahib Ji located in the Shor Bazar neighborhood of Old Kabul yesterday. When the event was just about to get over, a number of militants found their way inside the Gurudwara at around 7:45 am, according to the Afghanistan’s Standard Time (GMT+4.5). The militants started shooting the people, soon accompanied by bombing the complex. It is further stated many children and adults were able to escape outside, but still many were struck inside as the entrance was blocked by the attackers. The people had been under a seize and as it prolonged, more and more innocents were killed. By the time police was able to enter and take control, a lot number of causalities had already been reported.

It must be mentioned that Sikh community constitute a marginal minority population in Afghanistan with not more than 300 families, which was earlier a quite big number. In the last many years, owing to the several attacks on them, a number of Sikhs had fled to India and other countries, where they had taken asylum. Although the situation had turned to quite peaceful in the recent years, but since, the Suicide Bombing Attack of 2018, in which more than a dozen members of Sikh community were killed in another Afghan city of Jalalabad, the situation has again worsened.

In a time when world is already suffering from the pandemic of Corona Virus, the attack has further shocked everyone and has compelled governments to look after peace and order in their respective nations as well.

Aashish Kochhar is a student pursuing History Honors from Jamia Millia Islamia.