CHINAR SHADE : MINORITIES IN AFGHANISTAN : 1977 AND 2026

MINORITIES IN AFGHANISTAN: 1977 AND 2026

Apart from trade and commerce , Afghan Hindus and Sikhs were the educated urban class known as Hindki. They worked as Ayurvedic Tabibs and Hakims, running pharmacy shops, importing medicines from India and travelling as itinerant doctors to villages. They worked as accountants, scribes and bookkeepers for both the state and private bazaars, running the currency exchange system. As bankers in the 1800s, they financed Afghan kings and even the British army, and after getting full citizenship under Amanullah Khan, they entered civil service and the military, and by the 1960s-70s every hospital and university in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar had Hindu and Sikh doctors and professors. They ran textile and dry-fruit factories, exported precious stones, and sat in Parliament and Loya Jirga. In short, they were the doctors, teachers, clerks and factory owners of Afghanistan, not just its shopkeepers.

KABUL 1977

Shor Bazaar smelled of Heeng and dry fruit.

Mohan Lal Kapoor opened his cloth shop at 7 am under Asamai hill. Next to him, Gurbachan Singh opened his Kirana; next to him, Ismail the carpenter. Nobody said Hindu shop or Sikh shop. It was just Dukaan. Mohan Lal's family had been in Kabul for six generations since Maharaja Ranjit Singh's time. They spoke Pashto at the market, Dari at home, Punjabi at Gurdwara. In 1977, there were 700,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan. Mohan Lal's son Sunil went to Lycee Esteqlal French school in trousers. His daughter Seema went to Malalai school. At sunset, Mohan Lal walked to Asamai Mandir, the oldest Hindu temple from the 3rd century, on Koh-e Asamai hill. The bell rang, and the Azaan from the Masjid across rang together. No one felt strange.

Gurdwara Karte Parwan was full on Sundays. 25 Gurdwaras and 8 temples in Kabul alone. Hindu Mohalla in Jalalabad, Shor Bazaar, Ghazni, Helmand, Kunduz, all thriving. King Zahir Shah had given them seats in the Loya Jirga. Hindus were Afghan first, then Hindu.

Mohan Lal would close shop, counting Afghanis and say, "Kabul is our motherland ". Who will leave motherland?

KABUL:2026

The same Shor Bazaar lane, same stones.

One light burns in Mahabeer Shiva Mandir. Inside sits Rajesh Kumar, 42, the last Hindu priest of Afghanistan. Rarely does any devotee step in. He is alone. His wife and three children live in Tilak Nagar, Delhi, as refugees since 2021. He stayed. He says, "This is my motherland; someone must light a Diya." His shop line is gone. All 18 shops that belong to the temple are closed or taken by others. He lives on rice and Daal sent by the only two Sikh families left in Karte Parwan.

Asamai Mandir still stands, but its doors open only on Shivratri for 20 minutes. The bell is silent. To pray at Gurdwara Karte Parwan, 23 Sikhs are left in the whole country. They are old men guarding empty halls. They sweep, they do Ardas, they lock. Their children are in Surrey, Brampton, Rohini, Delhi.

Mohan Lal Kapoor's shop? Mohan Lal died in 1989 in the civil war. His son Sunil fled to Delhi in 1992 after a Mujahideen commander took his house in Shor Bazaar and wrote on the wall, "This property belongs to Mujahideen". Sunil's son now runs a small dry fruit shop in Lajpat Nagar and has an Indian Aadhaar Card. He has never seen Kabul.

In 1977, Hindu girls wore frocks to school in Kabul. In 2026, there is no Hindu girl left in school in Kabul.

In October 2025, Afghan Foreign Minister Muttaqi came to Delhi and told Afghan Hindu Sikh leaders, Afghanistan is your home; return anytime". They told him, We were 700,000; now we are 2 Hindu families only. How to return when our temples are encroached upon and there is no security? Just protect our dead".

Rajesh Kumar closes the temple at 6 pm. He locks the big iron gate alone. He walks through Shor Bazaar where his grandfather had 4 shops. Nobody calls him Kapoor Sahib now. They call him Hindu.

He looks at Koh-e Asamai hill and says, In 1977 we lit this city. In 2026 I am trying to keep one Diya burning".

Here is the number collapse: Hindu and Sikh together:

DIFFERENCE: 1977: 2026

Total Population : 1977 : 700,000 to 800,000 and 2026 : 40 to 50 people

Hindus alone : 1977: 200,000 and 2026: 2 families, about 8 people; priest Rajesh Kumar alone in Shor Bazaar temple

Sikhs alone : 1977: 500,000 20 and 2026: just 25 people

Temples in Kabul 1977: 8 Hindu temples active and 2026: 1 partly active: Asamai Mandir

Gurdwaras in Kabul : 1977: 25+ gurdwaras active, and 2026: 2 functional: Karte Parwan and Guru Har Rai Sahib.

In whole Afghanistan: Mandir + Gurdwara: 200+ shrines, and 2026: 3 functional, 12 abandoned or encroached.

Shops / Business : 1977: Controlled 60% of dry fruit, textiles, and banking in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar and 2026 0no Afghan Hindu owned shop open. Temple owns 18 shops, all rented or encroached

Schools : 1977: Hundreds of Hindu Sikh children in Esteqlal, Habibia, Malalai schools; 2026: no Hindu Sikh child in Afghan school

Representation: 1977: 4 members in the Afghan Parliament / Loya Jirga under King Zahir Shah; 2026: no representation

Minority Community Houses in Kabul: 1977: 30,000+ properties in Shor Bazaar, Kart-e-Parwan, Bagh-e-Bala Almost all taken. In October 2025, a delegation of Afghan Hindu and Sikh refugees met Taliban FM Muttaqi in Delhi. A member of the Sulaimankhel tribe, Muttaqi is a veteran member of the Taliban, serving both as the minister of education and a representative in U.N.-led talks under the first Taliban regime from the 1990s until 2001.

“We discussed the land associated with our gurdwaras and various shops. We want that the land that has been seized be given back to us. We also want that our gurdwaras, which are closed, be reopened. The way ‘bhajan-kirtan’ used to take place, they be done the same way again; we have applied for it,” Partap Singh, a delegation member, told PTI Videos.

Where Are the Minorities Now

Hindus and Sikhs have lived in Afghanistan for 1,000 years since the Shahi dynasty. Over 90% in India: Delhi Majnu Ka Tila, Tilak Nagar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Canada ( Brampton, Toronto), UK (Southall) and Germany. A few families are in France and Australia as refugees.

Timeline of fall

1977: 700000 Hindus and Sikhs live peacefully in Afghanistan.

1992 : After the Mujahideen civil war starts: 2,20,000 are left.People start leaving .

1996: Taliban first rule: 15,000 are left .

2001: About 9000 Hindus and Sikhs still live in Afghanistan.

2020: After Sikh Gurudwara bombing in Kabul - 25 killed; 400 people left. Hindus and Sikhs start leaving by any and every mode .

Aug 2021: Taliban return: 250 people airlifted to India on IAF flights. People leave using any and every mode.

June 2025: Almost all families of Hindus and Sikhs have left Afghanistan.

October 2025: A Report says, "2 Hindu families live in Afghanistan; Sikhs numbering 25 live in Afghanistan. They are mostly alone and elderly and living in and around their places of worship."

May 2026: 1 priest, Rajesh Kumar, is the last full-time Hindu priest in Afghanistan. He lives alone. Rarely does he see any devotee stepping inside the temple .Just 23 Sikhs , mostly elderly and alone, live in Afghanistan .

Ground Realities of Return

The present Afghan Government has only rhetoric of return for the Hindu-Sikh minority, with no real effort to return grabbed properties. Of 30,000 Hindu-Sikh houses and 200 shrines in 1977, 99% remain encroached. The community fell from 700,000 to 40 people, and none wants to return because property, security and schools are absent. Minorities are forgotten in practice. There is zero Hindu-Sikh representation in government, zero restitution commission. They are remembered only in speeches to claim that present Afghanistan rule is an inclusive government. This is for international recognition . When foreign dignitaries visit Kabul, ministers go to Karte Parwan Gurdwara for photos; after they leave, one old man guards it without electricity.

( Avtar Mota)

The Hindu and Sikh population of Afghanistan has now fallen to an extraordinarily small number. There is no reliable current census. The US State Department reported that at the end of 2023, only about six Sikh and Hindu individuals were known to remain in Afghanistan. They were reportedly living at the Karte Parwan Gurdwara in Kabul and had stayed principally to safeguard Sikh and Hindu shrines, scriptures and relics. More recent USCIRF reports for 2025 and 2026 do not provide a precise separate total, saying only that “small numbers” of Hindus and Sikhs remain