How do Afghans see the Sikhs?

[KhalsaWarrior]

This is a question that I meant to ask my Pashtun friends. How does Afghan society, history and people view the Sikhs? Closely aligned to this, how do Pashtuns of Pakhtunkhwa see Sikh rulers and generals like Ranjit Singh and Hari Singh Nalwa, the people who conquered and ruled the region, albeit for a very short duration.

KW

[Son of Mountains]

wrora, before asking Q to afgans, plz describe clearly either u r talking about Pakistani Sikhs or Indian Sikhs.
Hypocracy is that our people may have different concepts for the two.
Dont mind.

[KhalsaWarrior]

wrora, before asking Q to afgans, plz describe clearly either u r talking about Pakistani Sikhs or Indian Sikhs.
Hypocracy is that our people may have different concepts for the two.
Dont mind.

Well how about both the communities?

[Son of Mountains]

^^Me too....One Sinkh is my friend from Mengora....He is very fluent in Pashto, Pashto is his 1st language

[khyaal]

Yes we have of people of sikh community mostly in Khyber Agency, Buner and perhaps Orakzai Agency (Agency mean tribal area) where they have been for centuries, so there is no problem for them. They are native pashto speakers and have integrated in our Pashtun/afghan community.

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

us afghans generally look down upon indians, we dismiss them in derogatory terms due to our history of conquering them

which is retarded considering not only how more developed they are but the fact that indian bollywood culture is relatively popular amongst us

as for sikhs, that distinction is there between them and other indians

there is a begrudging respect there for them. we fought some great wars.

any hostility due to ranjeet signhs conquering of peshawer is offset by the fact that he never couldve done it had our own afghan leaders not been so divided

[Toramana]

I have interacted with few Sikhs and have found them an upright people with strong values just like Pashtuns. I attribute this to Sikh religion and their valiant struggle to live with self-respect and dignity.

I watched this movie of Bhagat Singh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagat_Singh, http://www.boloji.com/spirituality/051.htm) and was very impressed with his character.

[KhalsaWarrior]

I have interacted with few Sikhs and have found them an upright people with strong values just like Pashtuns. I attribute this to Sikh religion and their valiant struggle to live with self-respect and dignity.

I watched this movie of Bhagat Singh (Bhagat Singh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Why I Am An Atheist by Bhagat Singh) and was very impressed with his character.

Yes he was a great man who died at the age of 23 for his motherland. And he was a good writer and a thinker. You know some Sikhs consider him a greater hero than Gandhi.

[Selina]

I don't think so hons and Sikh is go beak to India because Afghanistan is for as we are for Afghanistan.

[ayub]

^ lol. :P

[Zarawar]

Since, we don't have any hindus and sikhs in our area or province, our people have no direct contact with them except for the stories they have heard. e.g. our great great great grand father Kamal khan was a general in Ahmad Shah Baba's army, and he was one of the leading commanders in the battle of panipat and stories of him slaughtering sikhs are still alive..

[Nick]

This is a question that I meant to ask my Pashtun friends. How does Afghan society, history and people view the Sikhs? Closely aligned to this, how do Pashtuns of Pakhtunkhwa see Sikh rulers and generals like Ranjit Singh and Hari Singh Nalwa, the people who conquered and ruled the region, albeit for a very short duration.

KW

Sikhs from the eyes of Afghans. As you may have noticed different feelings from different people. The people who are educated about the region of India as well as Afghan history, see Sikhs same as Indus but Sikhs are more respected. Because Afghans are in tribal society, and tribal society used to see Indus and Sikhs as less respected, and due to their Caste society even worse, which is why Hindu population has never earned respect from Afghans. However during Ahmad Shah baba lots of Sikhs were transported in Afghan cities mainly for work, during the 1800s Sikhs captured were used as slaves, but Abdur Rahman gave them "Azadi" and forgive their linkage to Hari Singh's era. However he was strick for example "no temples" and they were given the choice of "Leaving for Punjab" which is what many did and many stayed.

Today Afghans understood that Sikhs have Earned their respect, because there was only two era that Afghan lands came under Indic leadership a) Maurya Empire" Ashoka as an icon, b)Sikh Empire and Ranjit Singh as an Icon. Two different Period one Islamic and other pre-Islamic, shows the capability of Indic society as united can overcome anything lol as the one Sikh said "united we can anything including defecting the Pathans".


The Sikhs were named Sardar but Sardar from Indian Hindu prospective that it was these Sar "Dar"s who had Gutts to beat the Pathans and therefore a nicknamed "Sardar" is a Dari word since I mentioned many times Farsi or Dari was also language of India known as Hindawi. Sardar are pareses to those with highness, the ones with "pride", once they actually showed themselves as capable enough to push back the Afghans twice the ward "Sardar" was given to them. In fact even Company had high hopes that "Let the Sikhs and Pathan kill each-other making our job easier" Although History was once again a witness that Pathans did not took bows from British and once the land under Sikhs remained under British. Therefore maybe some afghan do have some sort of hard feelings towards Sikhs because of the loss of Peshawar and its areas but over before Book on history of India closes Sikhs finally signatured the Ending and earned the afghan respect.

[KhalsaWarrior]

The Sikhs were named Sardar but Sardar from Indian Hindu prospective that it was these Sar "Dar"s who had Gutts to beat the Pathans and therefore a nicknamed "Sardar" is a Dari word since I mentioned many times Farsi or Dari was also language of India known as Hindawi. Sardar are pareses to those with highness, the ones with "pride", once they actually showed themselves as capable enough to push back the Afghans twice the ward "Sardar" was given to them. In fact even Company had high hopes that "Let the Sikhs and Pathan kill each-other making our job easier" Although History was once again a witness that Pathans did not took bows from British and once the land under Sikhs remained under British. Therefore maybe some afghan do have some sort of hard feelings towards Sikhs because of the loss of Peshawar and its areas but over before Book on history of India closes Sikhs finally signatured the Ending and earned the afghan respect.

You know I would like to know more about your thoughts on the word Sardar. AFAIK, Sardar is also a ceremonial title in India. Reserved for a leader. For eg. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a freedom fighter, also India's first home minister - known for his strong arm tactics of unifying princely states into the newly formed Indian union.


And Sikhs and Pashtuns have unique martial histories under the British. The British quelled the 1857 revolt by using mainly Pathan and Sikh soldiers in their assault in Delhi. Dont know how Pashtuns came to join the British Army but Sikhs were without a job when Ranjit Singh's army was disbanded after the Anglo-Sikh wars. Also, 1857 gave the Sikh soldiers to kill the revolting Purabiyas (eastern Indians) who mainly comprised of the British Army during the Anglo-Sikh wars.

[MazloomYarMasud]

I have no problems with Sikhs but its the Muslim Punjabis who really make me angry.

However I had a friend who run a business in Dubai and he would bring over workers from Asian countries. He told me the Sikhs would get on very well with the Pakistani Muslim Punjabis than Pashtuns.

Even Pakistans ISI had a major role in supporting Sikh rebels under the banner of the Khalistan Movement.

ISI general Nasir opened up a organisation that preserved the ancient Sikh ornaments in a mesuem while these same ISI worked to destroy Pashtun ornaments in the name of Idol Worshipping.

Kind Regards

[tor_khan]

The Sikhs who are integrated into Pashtoon society do not represent the same aspirations of the Sikhs in the Panjab. As many here say, they are almost indistinguishable from other Pashtoons apart from their Panjabee roots and differing religion.

YouTube - Sikhs fleeing Swat struggle to find shelter - 30 May 09

The video illustrates a point and whilst it is good to know about Sikhs living amongst Pashtoons, the people of Swat suffered overall (and that was no accident) regardless of whether they were Sikh or not. It is therefore important to remember that what happened/is happening is part of wider Pashtoon suffering.

I have interacted with few Sikhs and have found them an upright people with strong values just like Pashtuns. I attribute this to Sikh religion and their valiant struggle to live with self-respect and dignity.

I watched this movie of Bhagat Singh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagat_Singh, http://www.boloji.com/spirituality/051.htm) and was very impressed with his character.

I quite agree about Bhagat Singh.

I have no problems with Sikhs but its the Muslim Punjabis who really make me angry.

However I had a friend who run a business in Dubai and he would bring over workers from Asian countries. He told me the Sikhs would get on very well with the Pakistani Muslim Punjabis than Pashtuns.

I make a similar observation here.

Even Pakistans ISI had a major role in supporting Sikh rebels under the banner of the Khalistan Movement.

Pakistan (read Panjab) generally sees Sikhs favourably.