Afghanistan: Treatment of Sikhs by the Taliban (Taleban) (1996-1999)

The following information was obtained in a 5 March 1999 telephone interview with the Director of the Centre For Afghanistan Studies (CAS) at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. The CAS publishes the Afghanistan Studies Journal. The director lived in Afghanistan between 1964 and 1974 where he was in charge of the Fullbright Foundation. He currently travels to Afghanistan regularly as a consultant on Afghanistan for the United Nations and the Department of State of the United States. The director was in Afghanistan in the spring of 1998 where he travelled around Kabul and the northern area of the country as part of a United Nations team. According to the Director, most of the Sikh community in Afghanistan have fled the country after nearly twenty years of war. However, for the small community that remains living under generally difficult conditions, the Taliban (Taleban) have been generally tolerant of the Sikh community as well as other non-believers.

This information is corroborated in several media reports. According to a September 1996 report citing a Taliban leader (Mowlawi) as well as Pakistani and Taliban border guards, "hundreds of male members of Hindu and Sikh families" were returning to Taliban-controlled Jalalabad to reclaim ownership of property and businesses lost when the area was held by the Mojahedin (The News 15 Sept. 1996).

A December 1997 report, which describes services being held in a Sikh temple in Kabul, cites Abdul Rehman Ottaki, the Taliban deputy minister of information and culture as acknowledging the equal rights of Afghanistan's minorities. According to the report:

For Sikhs and Hindus, who once worshipped at five temples in Kabul, including one that was 300 years old, it was the Taliban's opponents who caused them grief. 

All but one of the temples straddled the front line during factional fighting between former defense chief Ahmed Shah Massood and his biggest rival, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. 

The warren of narrow streets now lies in ruins, a testament to the bitter combat that killed nearly 30,000 people in Kabul between 1992 and 1996, when Taliban troops captured the city. 

In the only temple still standing, Sikhs and Hindus gather each night as the sun sets. A brightly polished harmonium, which resembles a table top accordion, and a small set of drums called tablas appear. 

Musicians, wearing the turbans that identify them as Sikhs, sit on pillows at one end of the expansive marble-floored hall. The music begins softly, the sound gently caressing the listeners who sway to the rhythm. 

It's an eerie sensation to hear the strains of an evening raag in a city where listening to music is a crime that carries a mandatory lashing. 

But not for Sikhs and Hindus.  They skirt the ban on music by telling the Taliban that it is their form of worship. 

'Like Muslims pray five times a day, we sing our songs in the afternoon,' said Sarang Singh. 'The Taliban sometime come and just sit and listen. Some say, I don't understand it; I just like it.' 

Singh said Taliban soldiers are not a threat to them. 

'We are not feeling afraid of the Taliban. We are not separate people,' he said.  We are from this country.''  (Austin American-Statesman 7 Dec. 1997).

A December 1998 report, which highlights the difficulties faced by Islamic minorities under the Taliban, also makes reference to the exception to the Taliban ban on music that applies in the Sikh temple in Kabul (Houston Chronicle 13 Dec. 1998).

Further corroboration is found in the 1998 report of the Danish Immigration Service on a Fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, which stated that minorities in Kandahar, including Sikhs, were not generally discriminated against although individual cases did occur.

In addition, Country Reports, 1998 states:

The small number of non­Muslim residents in Afghanistan may practice their faith, but may not proselytize. Almost all of the country's small Hindu and Sikh population, which once numbered about 50,000, has emigrated or taken refuge abroad. There were reports that Hindus are now required to wear a piece of yellow cloth attached to their clothing to identify their religious identity; Sikhs reportedly were required to wear some form of identification as well. This rule allegedly was imposed to spare non-Muslims from the enforcement of rules that are mandatory for Muslims and from harassment by the PVSV [Ministry for the Promotion of Virtues and Suppression of Vice].

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Response.

References

Austin American-Statesman [Austin TX]. 7 December 1997. Kathy Gannon. "Islamic Taliban Army Leaves Religious Minorities in Peace." (NEXIS)

Centre For Afghanistan Studies (CAS) at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. 5 March 1999. Telephone interview with the Director.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998. 1999. Washington, DC: US Department of State. [Internet] [Accessed 3 Mar. 1999]

Danish Immigration Service. 1998. Fact-finding mission to Afghanistan. [Internet] [Accessed 3 Mar. 1999]

The Houston Chronicle [Houston TX]. 13 December 1998. Marion Lloyd. "Abuse by Taliban Has Many Longing for Problems of Past." (NEXIS)

The News [Islamabad, in English]. 15 Sept. 1996. Behroz Khan. "Taleban Leader Comments on Minorities' Return to Jalalabad." [FBIS-NES-96-180 15 Sept. 1996/WNC]

Additional Sources Consulted

Resource Centre Amnesty International file on Afghanistan. 1996-1999.

Resource Centre Country file on Afghanistan. 1996-1999.

Electronic Sources : IRB Databases, REFWORLD, LEXIS/NEXIS, WNC, Internet.