Inscription throws new light to Hindu rule in Afghanistan

By PHP Staff
Monday, April 25, 2011

(Photo : The alter at Kabul's Hashari Natha Temple (Hindu Mandir) in Afghanistan)

Kolkata (India) : A stone inscription in Sanskrit, recovered from the city of Mazar-i-Sharif of northern Afghanistan a few years ago, has thrown new light on the reign of the Hindu Shahi ruler `Veka' in that country.

The recovery and significance of the inscription, telling a story of the Hindu ruler Veka and his devotion to lord `Siva', was told by leading epigraphist and archaeologist Prof Ahmad Hasan Dani of the Quaid-E-Azam University of Islamabad at the ongoing Indian History Congress here.

If historians, preferred to revise the date of the first Hindu Shahi ruler Kallar from 843-850 AD to 821-828 AD, the date of 138 of present inscription, if it refers to the same era, should be equal to 959 AD which falls during the reign of Bhimapala'', Dani said in a paper `Mazar-i Sharif inscription of the time of the Shahi ruler Veka, dated the year 138'', submitted to the Congress.

The inscription, with eleven lines written in `western Sarada' style of Sanskrit of 10th century AD, had several spelling mistakes. ``As the stone is slightly broken at the top left corner, the first letter `OM' is missing'', he said.
According to the inscription, ``the ruler Veka occupied by eight-fold forces, the earth, the markets and the forts. It is during his reign that a temple of Siva in the embrace with Uma was built at Maityasya by Parimaha (great) Maitya for the benefit of himself and his son''.

The inscription was brought from Mazar-i-Sharif, where the tomb of Hazrat Ali, son-in-law of Prophet Mohammed is located, to Pakistan and is currently housed at the Islamabad Museum, Dani said.

Dani said ``the inscription gives the name of the king as Shahi Veka Raja and bestows on him the qualification of `Iryatumatu Ksanginanka'.... and (he) appears to be the same king who bears the name of Khingila or Khinkhila who should be accepted as a Shahi ruler''.

Dani further said ``he may be an ancestor of Veka deva. As his coins are found in Afghanistan and he is mentioned by the Arab ruler Yaqubi, he may be an immediate predecessor of Veka deva...... Both the evidences of inscription and coins suggest that Veka or Vaka should be accepted as an independent ruler of northern Afghanistan.

``Thus we find another branch of the Shahi ruler in northern part of Afghanistan beyond the Hindukush. Veka is said to have conquered the earth, the markets and the forts by his eight-fold forces, suggesting that he must have himself gained success against the Arab rulers of southern Afghanistan''.

Dani observed that going by the findings it seemed that during the rule of the Hindu Shahi ruler Bhimapala there was a break in the dynasty -- one branch, headed by Jayapala, ruled in Lamaghan and Punjab, and another branch, headed by Veka, ruled in northern part of Afghanistan.

``The northern branch must have come to an end by the conquest of Alptigin in the second half of tenth century AD'', he said.

UK : Hindu family facing deportation to Afghanistan say fears religious persecution by the Taliban

By PHP Staff
Wednesday, February 02, 2011

 (Photo : Arti Kumar with her two sons says she will be persecuted for their religious beliefs in Afghanistan)

U.K. : A Hindu family facing deportation to Afghanistan say they fear religious persecution by the Taliban if they are forced to return. 

Arti Kumar says she fled the country in September 2007 with her two sons, Akash and Ravi, because they had been targeted by the Taliban.

Ms Kumar claimed asylum upon arrival in the UK and was moved to Middlesbrough.

She has now been told by the UK Border Agency that they do not have the right to remain here and must go back.

She says: "I'd rather die here than go back and be killed. I've got nothing to go back for or to."

Separated family

The family say they decided to leave after a Taliban guard attacked older son Ravi, then aged 17, hitting him on the head with a rifle. The assault left him brain damaged.

They sold the family textile business to raise money to pay an agent to take them out of Afghanistan. But they were told he could only take three of them.

Ms Kumar says: "I haven't heard from my husband Ram - he stayed behind. It's been three years."

She also believes her 16-year-old daughter Rekha was abducted by the Taliban. She has never been found.

"We looked for her for two years. Then my son was attacked. I'm so stressed, I don't know what to do. And now this deportation."

They believe that their lives will be in danger if they are forced to return.

Akash, 18, says: "People over there, Muslim people, no offence to anyone but they don't like Hindus. They don't want us to follow our religion they just want us to convert."

Appeal

The family received a letter from the UK Border Agency last month which said that their asylum status had been removed and that they should leave their accommodation as they were no longer entitled to any benefits.

They are being supported by the Hindu Cultural Society in North Ormesby in Middlesbrough. The president, Krishan Kumar Nath says he cannot understand the UKBA's decision to deport them.

He says: "The only reason I think they are being deported is that when Arti Kumar had her initial hearing at the Special Immigration Appeals Centre, she went without any legal representation and she does not speak English."

Mr Nath has now instructed new lawyers on behalf of the family, and has made another application for asylum.

The Hindu Cultural Society has also started a petition for the family.

Mr Nath added: "How can they go there when we are sending thousands of forces there to keep peace in Kabul? There is no peace, how can they send this innocent family there?"

In a statement the UKBA's deputy director for Northumbria, said: "Ms Kumar's case has been carefully considered by both the UK Border Agency and the courts and she has been found not to have a right to remain here. She has submitted further representations and these will be reviewed by the UK Border Agency prior to any removal."

Invitation for Religion, Peace and Development : Afghanistan and Pakistan

By Arvind Iyer (PHP Internation Humar Rights Coordinator)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arvind Iyer
Date: Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 1:02 PM
Subject: Fwd: Religion, Peace and Development: Afghanistan and Pakistan
To: Pakistan Hindu Post (PHP)

 Dear Colleague:

Please join us at the roundtable titled, "Religion, Peace and
Development: Afghanistan and Pakistan" at the Berkley Center for
Religion, Peace and World Affairs on December 3rd, 2010 at 12 noon.
The roundtable aims to engage communities to discuss how religion and
inter-religious communities can be a force to bring peace and
prosperity in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this unique discussion.
This event is open to the public and the media. Please find attached
further information regarding the event.

Afghan Hindus and Sikhs grapple with uncertain future

By Dr.Radhe Shyam Kumar (PHP Mangang Editor)
Tuesday, July 6, 2010

(JALALABAD Apr 12, 2009: Afghan Hindus and Sikhs commemorate the 311th birthday of their religious leader inside their temple in the eastern Nangarhar on Sunday. PAJHWOK/Abdul Moheed Hashemi)

KABUL (Reuters) - They thrived long before the arrival of Islam in the seventh century and for a long time dominated the country's economy, but Sikh and Hindu Afghans now find themselves struggling for survival.

"We have no shelter, no land and no authority," says Awtar Singh, a senator and the only non-Muslim voice in Afghanistan's parliament.

"No one in the government listens to us, but we have to be patient, because we have no other options," says Singh, 47.

In a brief idyll in 1992, after the fall of the Moscow backed-government but before civil war erupted, there were around 200,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan compared with around just a few thousand today.

When warring factions fought over Kabul, razing entire neighborhoods in deadly rocket barrages, the two communities became targets partly because of their religion, but also because they didn't have a militia of their own for protection.

Armed men stormed a temple in Kabul and tore a religious book to avenge the destruction of a mosque by fanatic Hindus in India. After complaining of extortion, intimidation, kidnappings, theft and even rape, those with the means fled to India where they live as aliens and require visas, like other foreigners.

Ironically the rise to power of the hard-line Islamist Taliban marked an improvement in the lives of those who remained -- and some emigres even started to return.

"The Taliban did not suppress us -- they respected our religion and if we had any problem they would resolve it immediately, let alone delay it until the next day," says Singh.

Some Afghan Hindus were baffled by Western outrage at one Taliban decree -- ordering them to wear a yellow tag to identify their religion -- saying in practical terms it spared their clean-shaven faces from the wrath of the Taliban religious police, who insisted Muslim Afghan men must grow beards.

The Sikhs escaped scrutiny because they also grow their beards long.

Since the Taliban's fall, Afghanistan's new constitution promises religious minorities greater freedoms than before, but it is harder to ensure in practical terms.

Hindus and Sikhs had scores of properties stolen during the civil war and its aftermath and thousands of claims lie gathering dust in the arcane bureaucracy that makes up the government.

"I have my family still in India because I have lost my house and other properties," says Awtam Singh, who was an important trader in the old days but is now reduced to selling herbal medicines in a tiny Kabul shop.

"We feel ignored by this government," he laments.

While tens of thousands of Muslim Afghans have the same problems, they at least have politicians or leaders fighting their corner.

Some of the returning Hindus and Sikhs have brought their families and live mostly in secure areas such as Kabul and eastern city of Jalalabad, where they have temples and segregated schools.

Even after death, problems continue. Part of the land that Sikhs and Hindus use for the funeral pyres for their dead has been taken over by urban sprawl in Kabul.

"I can not see things getting better for us," said Awtam.

"The Indians say you belong to Afghanistan, and here we are seen as Indians. No government cares for us, he said.

(Editing by David Fox and Sanjeev Miglani)