Monday, November 1, 2010

Orakzai Sikhs picking up their shattered lives











SAM FEROZKHEL: For 11-year-old Rajindar Kaur, life was full of joy in the picturesque village of Sam Ferozkhel in the Orakzau Tribal Agency. But then everything changed. The village’s serene atmosphere was disrupted by gun-toting bearded Taliban who unleashed a reign of terror on the entire area.

Kaur and her family, like dozens of other Sikh families, had to abandon their cherished village and flee in the face of advancing Taliban, who were gaining power and wanted to impose their own hard-line version of Islam on the area.

Kaur does not want to speak about her ordeal. She is now happy to have returned to her native village located in the lap of thickly-forested mountains and surrounded by walnut and apple orchards.

“I’m very happy to have returned to my village,” a beaming Kaur told The Express Tribune. She said when they left the area, they feared they would never see their village again. “We returned to our village after the authorities told us that the area is safe,” Kaur said.

with thanks : theexpresstribune : link in headline above for detailed news.

SikhsIndia

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