Members of the Sikh and Hindu community in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Wednesday said that they are trying to leave the country after having had their land and property confiscated by powerful elements in the area.
 
They said that their problems don’t only stop there and have now resulted in their children being deprived of an education.
 
But, officials in the province have said that the local administration is committed to addressing the plight of the Hindu and Sikh community.
 
“Schools will be built for these students; seven million Afs has been allocated for it; the project will start next month. The governor has also met their representatives about their problems,” said a Nangarhar provincial official, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai.
 
The Sikh and Hindu community has also said that their people are discriminated against. They called on the Afghan government to take steps to secure their lives and social status.
 
“In the past there were schools for our children and they were learning, but now they have no schools and cannot learn, we want that. We want our children to get access to education” said another Sikh, Ranjit Singh.
 
“Our children are learning inside the temple because of the lack of a school building, but it is difficult to continue like this because religious ceremonies are observed there,” said another Sikh, Manor Singh.
 
Community members also claim their land is simply being usurped.
 
“For instance, the lands which are grabbed have three documents, but when a Hindu or Sikh citizen consults a department, they are told that this land needs several other documents,” said a Sikh resident in Nangarhar Rajbir Singh.
 
According to statistics, in the past there were around 10,000 Hindu and Sikh families living in Nangarhar, but now the figure has dropped to only about 150 families.