Source: New Kerala News

Wire Service: IANS

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=16565

On August 24, 2005 the Indo-Asian News Service reported, "The reconstruction of seven gurdwaras destroyed in Afghanistan's bloody civil war has finally begun ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit later this month. There are smiles on the faces of Sikh and Hindu residents of the once again bustling Afghan capital where the fundamentalist Taliban militia contributed much to the desecration of Sikh shrines. After considerable delay, authorities here have cleared the gurdwaras of both encroachers and rubble. Kabul boasted of eight towering gurdwaras and three Hindu temples before the mujahideen groups opposed to President Najibullah began to target Kabul from the outlying districts. Seven of the gurdwaras were destroyed in the fighting in the 1980s. Hindu temples, however, escaped damage. Only one gurdwara at Karte Parwan, associated with Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, survived and remained operational."