The March 2020 massacre of Sikh worshippers at a gurdwara in Kabul, Afghanistan sent shockwaves through the global Sikh community. When the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed credit, they said their motive was revenge for Hindu nationalist actions in the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime swiftly blamed the Kabul massacre on Pakistan. Yet is the official narrative to be trusted?
As Hindu nationalism dominates New Delhi, all of India's minorities - including Sikhs - are caught in the cross-hairs of the violent religious nationalist movement. The movement seeks to swallow up all the nations of South Asia and spit out a Hindu supremacist super-state called "Akhand Bharat" (Undivided India). Guided by this desire, the movement has long viewed Afghanistan as a "second front" for its regional proxy wars.
Powerful nations have often manufactured reasons for wars that lead to catastrophic unintended consequences and decades of destructive blowback. The world is left to deal with mass displacement, flows of refugees, and untold human tragedy. The circumstances behind the Kabul massacre offer the global community a chance to witness the potential launch of a similar script as laboratories of terror are replicated and set loose by rogue actors.