AFGHAN SIKH LEADER WANTS LAND--OR MEANS OF ESCAPE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 003501 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF PGOV AF SUBJECT: AFGHAN SIKH LEADER WANTS LAND--OR MEANS OF ESCAPE REF: KABUL 1591 ¶1. (U) Summary: The senior representative of Afghanistan's beleaguered Sikh minority flagged to us their deepening problems and alleged that, since the election, the security situation for Sikhs and Hindus has worsened as a result of the central government's failure to exercise control and influence. Since our last report in June 2009 (reftel),the Sikh-Hindu population has dwindled from 3,000 families to 760 families, or about 3,100 people. The community urgently needs help on two matters: land for homes and land for cremations. Lack of police protection from armed thugs who confiscate their land and lack of ministerial follow-through for the protection of their rights are the stated reasons most Sikhs and Hindus have left Afghanistan; the remaining stay only for lack of money to leave. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) In a conversation with Poloff on November 1, Senator Atwar Singh Khalsa, Upper House MP and the only Sikh or Hindu in parliament, talked to us about security concerns. He feared that as a prominent Sikh, his open support for President Karzai in the elections put his community at risk from local Tajik and Panjshiri supporters of Dr. Abdullah. Khalsa believes that the situation for the Sikhs and Hindus has become especially precarious in the past few months. He unhesitatingly attributed the declining quality of life for religious minorities to the "weakening" of the central government and its inability to influence the citizenry or control powerful rogue elements. He said the community enjoyed the support of the President in his first three years in office, but in the last four years, the verbal and written support for their rights seldom translated into material help. Khalsa attributes the shift in majority attitudes toward the Sikhs to the rise of former mujahideen, "those in power who make their living from fighting8 and who do not share educated views on religious tolerance. ¶3. (SBU) Khalsa said that in addition to suffering outright discrimination, preached in some mosques, the community suffers from lack of safe residential areas, lack of space to cremate their dead, and the threatened destruction of their temples (gurdwaras). From 64 gurdwaras in Afghanistan, they now have 12. (Note: There are two gurdwaras in Kabul, two in Kandahar, three in Jalalabad, three in Ghazni, and one in Helmand. End note.) Children do not feel safe in public �A;schools, and armed gunmen routinely harass the community, particularly over land. Khalsa said Sikhs are increasingly vulnerable to targeted violence. A few weeks ago, for example, Naderia High School students attacked and beat the Muslim watchman to the Kart-e-Parwan gurdwara, accusing him of having become an infidel. Khalsa,s two nephews were recently mugged. A Sikh family traveling from Helmand to Kandahar was stopped by police, beaten, and told to shave their hair. Until Ramadan, there were 30 Sikh families living in Kandahar; now there are four. ¶4. (SBU) Khalsa is especially concerned about a Sikh doctor, named Nano Singh, who he said is being unfairly detained in Kandahar Provincial Prison. Allegedly, a Muslim doctor bribed the police to destroy Singh's business. The doctor is a well-regarded man who has practiced in the community for many years. Police have accused him of raping a female Muslim patient; he was also publicly humiliated and his hair exposed, a serious insult for a Sikh. Supposedly, the provincial governor demanded a bribe of 500,000 Afn. ($10,500) to move the case to court and the first court is now demanding a 200,000 Afn. ($4,200) bribe. (NOTE: Embassy Kabul is verifying these reports.) -------------- Bureaucratic assault on a temple -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The Kabul city government's expanded road past the gurdwara (temple) complex in Kart-e-Parwan has been built, and the city now wants space for a sidewalk. The complex has already lost the space where the community's only clinic stood. The city wants another three meters for the sidewalk, which will destroy the building, but the community is negotiating to keep one meter in order to protect the building's front wall. (Note: Even if they win the extra meter, the building's structural integrity may already be impaired by the lack of support around the foundation. End Note.) Khalsa notes that the new sidewalk will be wide by Kabul standards, in a residential area with little foot traffic, and that the mosque at the end of the street did not lose any space at all. ¶6. (SBU) The sidewalk issue is typical of the "hypocritical government support" they experience, Khalsa said. The Minister of Urban Development and 2nd Vice-President Mohammad Karim Khalili both issued orders in favor of the gurdwara, allowing them the one meter they need to keep the building from toppling. Yet despite the ministerial orders, they have received no support to implement the orders and no protection from the police. Indeed, said Khalsa, the Mayor of Kabul has refused to accept the ministerial orders and threatens them daily, apparently determined to undermine the community. KABUL 00003501 002 OF 002 -------------- Cremation -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The community's problems with cremations are numerous and growing, according to Khalsa. Death has a huge impact on the community because of the religiously sensitive question of how to handle the body. Sikhs and Hindus, treated as one community in Afghanistan, cremate their dead, and submitted the application for a cremation facility six years ago. For lack of such a facility, they must burn their dead in the open, which Muslims object to because of the smell and the fear of disease. The government offered a place for their cremations near Pul-e-Charkhi but the Pashtun Kuchi tribespeople would not permit them to use it. The government authorized another spot in District 21, but again they encountered local backlash. Local police provide security for Sikh funerals, but are often incapable of protecting the site itself. Qalacha, a Sikh cremation spot for 120 years, now has houses on it, and they cannot make the authorities remove the houses, built in the middle of the night. (NOTE: In mid-October, Poloff asked the Director of External Relations for the Ministry of the Hajj and Religious Affairs Qazi Habib Rahman Salehi about land for Sikh and Hindu cremations. He dismissed the concern, saying that they should use the desert. End Note.) On October 9, at a desert cremation site outside Kabul, the Sikhs found cow dung, bones, and garbage dumped in what appeared to be a purposeful act of desecration. Kandahari Sikhs no longer have a cremation site, and have to travel to Ghazni. ¶8. (U) Everyday life and practicing ordinary aspects of their religion is increasingly difficult for the community, said Khalsa. Sikh women are forced to adapt to dominant cultural norms or risk harassment, dishonor, and possible violence; consequently, no Afghan Sikh women work outside the home. (NOTE: Sikh women in other countries enjoy equal status with men. End Note.) Unemployment is a growing problem, as Sikh business owners have left the country, leaving their employees without work. Sikhs are also exploited by landlords, who charge exorbitant rents of $300-400 per month. ¶9. (SBU) Khalsa said that every Sikh here would leave given the opportunity to do so; only money holds them back. Refugee status would be acceptable, even preferable to the current living situation for some. Khalsa said they would go to any country except Pakistan or India, as in India they are discriminated against as Afghans and typically only allowed three-month visas. He said they consider themselves Afghans first and Sikhs second, as their beliefs stipulate. ¶10. (SBU) As a result of their loss of government protection, Khalsa said he has lost trust in government solutions. For him, eight years of promises have yielded less and less: for seven years they have waited for promised schools; for six years, a crematorium; now, they face the loss of their temple. The president no longer accepts their requests for meetings. ¶11. (SBU) COMMENT: The widened road seems an example of a deliberate tactic to harass the Sikhs, given how little traffic moves down the street on which the gurdwara is located. Khalsa seemed genuinely depressed, worn down by the problems of his community and his years fighting on their behalf. Though they have no hope of ever regaining the level of community support they felt in the 1960s when Afghanistan was the most religiously-tolerant country in the region, the Sikhs want to live in peace in their homeland. But given their experience of increasing intolerance for religious difference in Afghanistan, the community is likely to end up emigrating. Until then, they seek our help in pressing their case for land and space to cremate their dead and we will explore means of being of assistance. End Comment. EIKENBERRY