The blast in Jalalabad marks one of the deadliest attacks on the Sikh and Hindu community in Afghanistan during decades of war and violence.
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday described the terror strike in Afghanistan as an attack on the country's multicultural fabric, the Afghanistan ambassador Shaida Mohammad Abdali suspected elements across the border, in Pakistan, behind the incident. He asked the world community not to keep quiet on the role of the country that is sponsoring terror.
The blast in Jalalabad marks one of the deadliest attacks on the Sikh and Hindu community in Afghanistan during decades of war and violence. Among the dead were 17 Sikhs and Hindus, Afghan officials said, including Avtar Singh, the only Sikh candidate running in the October 20 legislative elections, and Rawail Singh, a prominent social activist. The terrorist group Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility. The vast majority of 1,000 Hindu and Sikh families live in Jalalabad as well as the south-eastern city of Ghazni and the Afghan capital Kabul.
"We strongly condemn the terror attacks in Afghanistan yesterday (Sunday). They are an attack on Afghanistan's multicultural fabric," PM Modi wrote on Twitter. He said India was ready to assist the Afghanistan government in this sad hour. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also expressed shock at the incident.
The Afghan envoy Abdali said his country was under attack, adding that "terror is coming from across the border". "Jalalabad attack was an attack on our diversity and Indo-Afghan ties," he said. "India and Afghanistan have been impacted by terror from one country." Hinting at Pakistan, the ambassador said, "A country in the region is sponsoring terror; both countries have been impacted by one country."
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was in Jalalabad on Sunday as part of a two-day visit to the province. He was not harmed. Reports said a group of 20 Sikhs and Hindus had planned to meet him in the morning at the provincial governor's compound but the meeting was postponed until the afternoon. As their convoy neared the compound, they were stopped by security forces and ordered to get out of their cars to be checked. "That is when a suicide bomber on foot detonated among us," eyewitnesses told Tolo News, an Afghan TV channel.
IS was not part of the government's recent 18-day ceasefire with the Taliban that expired on June 29. The government's unilateral truce overlapped with the Taliban's three-day ceasefire for Eid. It was marred by two suicide attacks in Nangarhar that were claimed by the IS.
Meanwhile, the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells, has asked Pakistan to do more on Taliban and take decisive action. "Pakistan has an important role to play… but we have not yet seen that sustained and decisive action on the part of Islamabad," she said. "It's going to be very hard for us to achieve our objectives… if Pakistan isn't working with us," she said in Kabul. The Taliban have so far ignored President Ashraf Ghani's offer of peace negotiations. Instead, they have insisted on direct talks with the United States, which Washington has repeatedly refused. The White House has been ratcheting up pressure on Islamabad to crack down on extremist groups operating in the country after suspending military aid to Pakistan in January because of its inaction on the issue.
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