Kabul: Avtar Singh Khalsa will represent Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu minority community in the next parliament hoping to serve the whole nation as one.
The government’s quest for peace and stability in the Afghan province to protect the few numbers which have now reduced to as little as 1,000 from previous numbers of 80,000 in the 1970s is an initiative now being taken.
A longtime leader of the Sikh community, Mr. Khalsa will contest for a seat in the lower house for the minority which was apportioned to the minority community by presidential decree in 2016.
He will now be the voice among the other 259 legislators in the October election.
Speaking to Associated Press, the 52-year-old father of four, hailing from eastern Paktia province in Afghanistan said: “I don’t only want to serve my Sikh and Hindu brothers. I have to be able to serve all the Afghan people, no matter which ethnicity or group they belong to. Our services must reach everyone.”