AÂ suicide bombing allegedly targeting minority communities has left 20 people dead, including many Sikhs in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Follow this news which broke earlier today, the Sikh Press Association reached out to Afghani Sikhs for further news and reaction to this story.
Whilst Indian media are reporting 10 Sikhs have been killed during the attack, UK Afghan Sikh community figure and filmmaker Pritpal Singh has received news suggesting 14 Sikhs were killed in the attack, as opposed to Indian media stating 10 have been killed. Pritpal Singh also confirmed that senior Afghan Sikh community figures Parliamentary Election Candidate Awtar Singh Khalsa, the only Sikh in the Afghan Presidential elections, and Rawail Singh, deputy head of The Council of Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan were killed in the attack.
On social media, Pritpal Singh stated the deaths were ‘A great loss to our already diminished community.’
Who Was Avtar Singh Khalsa?
Avtar Singh Khalsa was set to represent the Muslim-dominated nation’s tiny Sikh and Hindu minority in the upcoming parliamentary elections in October. In an interview with the Associated Press, he had said that though he was representing the minority communities, he hoped to serve the entire country.
“I don’t only want to serve my Sikh and Hindu brothers. I have to be able to serve all the Afghan people, no matter which ethnicity or group they belong to. Our services must reach everyone,” he had said.
Khalsa was scheduled to run unopposed for a seat in the lower house of the parliament, that was reserved for the minority by a presidential decree in 2016.
Following the elections, he would have been the solitary voice of the minority in the parliament, and had hoped that his 10-year stint at the Afghan army would help him secure a position on the defense and security committee.
A former senator from the upper house of the parliament, Khalsa is survived by his wife and four children.
‘Targeted Attack’, Say Officials
Ghulam Sanayi Stanekzai, police chief of Nangarhar said the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber who targeted a vehicle carrying members of the Sikh minority who were travelling to meet the president.
Officials said at least 10 of the dead were Sikhs.