Amarinder, Harsimrat Badal condemn attack at Gurudwara in Kabul

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal have strongly condemned the attack on a religious gathering in a Gurdwara in Kabul in which at least 11 people were killed.

Amarinder Singh described the attack as extremely "tragic and unfortunate".

Heavily armed gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a Sikh gurdwara in the heart of Afghanistan's capital of Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 11 worshippers and wounding as many, in one of the deadliest attacks on the minority community in the country, according to a media report.

"Horrific news coming from Kabul where a barbaric terror attack happened in the Gurudwara Guru Har Rai. It's extremely tragic and unfortunate. Request (Afghanistan) President @Ashraf Ghani Ji to find out the perpetrators and look after our people," Singh tweeted.

Condemning the ghastly attack, Union Minister and Bathinda MP, Harsimrat Kaur Badal said she requests External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to issue immediate instructions to the Indian High Commission to ensure the safety of the Sikhs.

"Shocked to learn about a ghastly terror attack at Gurdwara Sahib in #Kabul. I request EAM @DrS Jaishankar Ji to issue imm instructions to the Indian High Comm in Afghanistan to ensure the safety of our Sikh brethren trapped there..," she tweeted.

Meanwhile,  Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal also condemned the barbaric attack and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue of safety of the Sikh community with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani urgently.

In a statement here, the SAD President said as per initial reports four persons had been killed even as more than 150 Sikhs were holed up in the gurdwara complex. "These people need to be rescued even as quick action needs to be taken to bring to justice those responsible for this cowardly and ghastly act," he said.

Sukhbir Badal said it was unfortunate that Sikhs in Afghanistan had been "victims of forced marriages and conversions and killings for more than two decades now but no concrete steps had been taken to ensure their safety".

He said Sikhs were being systematically decimated in Afghanistan due to which thousands had fled the country to seek refuge in India.

"Now only around 300 Sikh families live in Afghanistan in the vicinity of Gurdwaras but even they are not safe with even gurdwaras being targeted as has happened today morning," he added.

Sukhbir said Sikhs who had been displaced by the wave of violence against them by fanatics should be rehabilitated.

He said similarly all Sikh places of worship in Afghanistan should be given due protection by the State.