(Image source from: CNN.com)

The Hindu American Foundation, an advocacy organization in the United States grieve the death of Sikhs and Hindus, that killed 19 and wounded at least 20 others, which as well includes some of the salient leaders, in a suicide bomb attack on June 1 in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

The HAF, in a press release released on June 2, expressed intense sorrow regarding the attack on a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan. The convoy was en route to Jalalabad to meet the President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani. Though no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, both Taliban and Islamic State-affiliated groups are active in the region.

According to a press release, Avtar Singh Khalsa, who was hoped-for to run in approaching elections for parliament and Rawail Singh, who was active in sending local community teachers to India for advanced teaching and training were killed in the attack.

"Rawail Singh was a selfless person who embodied the Sikh tradition of seva (selfless social service). He promoted peace in his country by encouraging Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims to coexist in harmony. With the loss Rawail Singh, Avtar Singh Khalsa, and other prominent members of the Afghan Hindu-Sikh community, we have lost the voice and hope for peace in Afghanistan," said a leader of the Washington, D.C. based Afghan Hindu Community Sunil Ishaizsay.

HAF calls on the authorities of Afghanistan to render all aid and protection for the wounded by moving them, if needed, to India for safety and extended medical facilities. They further urged to render assistance in moving the families of the victims to India, United Kingdom, or Germany, and to intensify security around Hindu and Sikh sites in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, it urged the U.S. State Department to designate Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan as a separate category of people for purposes of asylum in the United States, "recognizing the particularly precarious state of both communities in Afghanistan and the existential threats they face there."

"Sikhs and Hindus have long suffered widespread discrimination in the conservative Muslim country and been targeted by Islamic extremists. The community numbered more than 80,000 in the 1970s, but today only around 1,000 remain. In recent years, large numbers of Sikhs and Hindus have sought asylum in India, which has a Hindu majority and a large Sikh population," the HAF said in the press release.

By Sowmya Sangam