yesterday’s attack on a gurdwara in kabul is heartbreaking. i have always felt a deep connection to the sikh community. my father is punjabi and i cherish the warmth, humor, easeful informality and festive joy that we share with our sikh sisters and brothers. it’s almost like the laid-back accents of the punjabi language embody such bonhomie.
sadly, i also remember the anti-sikh riots in india, in 1984. they align closely with the anti-muslim violence in gujarat, in 2002, and the recent pogrom in delhi, which saw sikhs mobilizing to help their muslim neighbors. this kind of solidarity is natural – sikhs too are a vulnerable minority in india.
the massacre in kabul is unconscionable, incomprehensible. there are too many historical, cultural and religious overlaps between us, south asians. if only we’d remember that. my deepest condolences and love to the sikh community everywhere.