Sikh families from Afghanistan urge Punjab Govt to provide Indian citizenship
Sikh families from Afghanistan urge Punjab Govt to provide Indian citizenship 25 Sikh families from Afghanistan have urged the Punjab government to provide them Indian citizenship and give houses to stay. Currently residing in Ludhiana, these families apparently came back to India from Kabul in Afghanistan a few years ago. “In total we were 40 families, which came back to India. Now only 25 are left. I had four children, but one of my daughters died some time ago as she didn’t get proper medical help,” Simmi Singh, one of the members of the 25 families said. “I was running my own business in Afghanistan. However, the people there always forced me and my family to become Muslims. Not just that, we were even asked to handover the female members of our families to them. That’s why I came back to India,” he said. “There are days when we eat food in a Gurudwara. However, we are happy here and will die in India only,” she said. A woman from another family said, my husband was apparently killed by militants in Afghanistan. “That incident really shocked me and my children. That triggered us to come back to India. However, we never thought that it would be so difficult for us to start a new life here,” Kulwant, the woman said. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is playing a helping hand to these families in providing them food. “These families came to us a few years ago. We helped them financially. SGPC can provide education to the children belonging to these families. However, it’s not just our responsibility as the central and the state government also need to intervene in the matter and help them,” former president of SGPC, Avtar Singh Makkad said. -PTC News
