Facing difficulty in finding suitable match for their daughters, Indian-origin Sikhs in Afghanistan are getting them married at an age when they are hardly educated or fully grown up, an MP of the country said in Patiala on Tuesday. "Girls there are worst affected. Their parents, mostly from business community, are getting them married at the age of 13-14 when they are not properly educated nor fully grown up," said Anarkali Kaur Honaryar.
The Upper House MP of Afghanistan, in Patiala to attend the first South Asian Punjabi conference, said "parents allow them to learn Gurmukhi only so that they can recite Gurbani."
Kaur, a dentist by profession and a well-known women rights activist, said the number of Indians in Afghanistan had come down drastically due to unrest in the country. "Now there are around 3,000 Sikhs and Hindus living in Afghanistan. Earlier, there were around 50,000 residing in Kabul, Kandahar and other cities of the country.
"But the moment the trouble erupted, most of them either migrated to Canada and Europe or returned to India," the MP said. Kaur thanked the Indian government for extending help in rebuilding Afghanistan.
She, however, lamented that Afghans still consider Indians staying there as foreigners. "Some still think we are foreigners working and living there for a while. But we are Afghans too and we should have equal rights and opportunities."
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