Author: Staff Writer

Source: IRIN

http://www.irinnews.org/HOVReport.aspx?ReportId=83524

"We feel disappointed, isolated and oppressed," said Ravil Singh, a Sikh leader in Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan, adding that local people "are good to us".

He spoke to IRIN about the problems facing the Sikh and Hindu minorities in Afghanistan.

"Before the war [1979] there were 16,673 Sikh and Hindu families in Kabul, Nangarhar, Ghazni, Khost, Kandahar and Helmand provinces. In the past 30 years we have suffered tremendously and many of our people left the country.

"We have too many problems but we get no help to solve them. A lot of our houses, shops and other properties have been seized by powerful people, commanders and warlords.