Current Events
Sikh-Afghans:
One of The Most Vulnerable Minorities in The World
DAVID BLAIR
Sikhs from Afghanistan, including women and young children, risked their lives inside a shipping container to find refuge in Britain, but what were they attempting to escape from?
The Sikhs of Afghanistan are one of the world’s smallest and most vulnerable minorities.
Numbering no more than a few hundred families, they have endured persecution both from the Taliban and wider society in a country that is 99 per cent Muslim.
If the migrants who were discovered at Tilbury Docks (England) on Saturday, August 16, 2014) are indeed Sikh-Afghan, as Essex Police claim, then they would have a clear motive for leaving their homeland.
But that still leaves some unanswered questions. On the face of it, the Sikhs of Afghanistan would have enough fear of persecution to be able to make a formal application for asylum in Britain. Why this group chose to arrive illegally inside a shipping container is unclear.
One possible method would be to discover what languages they understand. If the arrivals really have come from Afghanistan, then they would probably know Pashto, the language of the biggest ethnic group, or Dari, the nearest thing the country has to a lingua franca.
No British-born, English-speaking official will be able to establish their true origins with any certainty, without expert assistance. In the end, this is a task for skilled translators with ties to the sub-continent.
[Courtesy: The Telegraph. Edited for sikhchic.com]
August 18, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Sarvjit Singh (Massachusetts, USA), August 18, 2014, 3:17 PM.
Where is our leadership and media? Where is the outrage for our own? No fund raising, no publicity. Is it because there are no backers for these 'boat people'?
2: Bhai Harbans Lal (Dallas, Texas, USA), August 19, 2014, 12:44 AM.
Sikh-Afghans are committed Sikhs full of life and love for their Gurus' mission of love and service. It is painful to see them escaping this way but it is better to escape alive than to give up on life and accept slavery of the fanatic Muslims. I am sure the Sikh community in the UK will take care of them. We must be thankful for British generosity to help these refugees to be alive and regaining their health. In time they will be very productive British citizens.
3: N Singh (Canada), August 19, 2014, 3:07 AM.
#1: I second that!
4: Manbir Banwait (Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada), August 19, 2014, 4:21 PM.
I hope the mega rich gurdwaras of the UK do there utmost to help settle these migrants in the UK once they clear all immigration hurdles. The less assistance they require from the British taxpayer the better. This way Sikhs in the UK will be in a better position to help migrate the few Sikhs left in Afghanistan that would want to come to the West. Hopefully these folks will be success stories we can read about in a few years.