IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1085 

Condemning targeted terrorist attacks against members of the Sikh, Hindu, 

and other religious minority communities in Afghanistan and supporting 

refugee protection for Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan in recognition 

of the systematic religious persecution, discrimination, and existential 

danger faced by the members of these communities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 14, 2020 

Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. COX of California, Mr. COSTA, 

Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. 

LOFGREN, and Mr. RASKIN) submitted the following resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning targeted terrorist attacks against members of 

the Sikh, Hindu, and other religious minority communities in Afghanistan and supporting refugee protection 

for Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan in recognition of 

the systematic religious persecution, discrimination, and 

existential danger faced by the members of these communities. 

Whereas Sikhs and Hindus are indigenous but endangered 

minorities in Afghanistan, numbering approximately 700 


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•HRES 1085 IH 

out of a community that recently included over 8,000 

members; 

Whereas members of the Islamic State-Khorasan, the Islamic 

State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) affiliate in Afghanistan, attacked a Sikh temple in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 

March 25, 2020, killing 25 worshipers, including Tanya 

Kaur, a four-year-old girl; 

Whereas Islamic State-Khorasan militants made further attempts on the lives of the survivors before and after the 

funeral ceremony held for the victims; 

Whereas the Islamic State-Khorasan claimed responsibility 

for a suicide bombing in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on July 

1, 2018, which took the lives of 19 people, including most 

of the senior leadership of the Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan, who had assembled to meet the Afghan President; 

Whereas these acts of violence follow a greater pattern of targeted violence against Sikhs, Hindus, and other religious 

minorities in Afghanistan in recent years; 

Whereas the Department of State and United States Commission on International Religious Freedom have documented systemic discrimination against Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan, including restrictions on religious 

practices, illegal seizure of property, the inability to send 

their children to public schools due to harassment, judicial bias against religious minorities, and constitutional 

limitations on the political rights of religious minorities; 

Whereas the former Taliban-led government routinely persecuted and discriminated against the Afghan Sikh community, restricting their funeral rites and forcing the 


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•HRES 1085 IH 

community to publicly identify themselves by wearing yellow armbands; and 

Whereas the President of the United States has proposed resettling up to 18,000 refugees pursuant to section 207 of 

the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157) for 

fiscal year 2020, in contrast to the Obama administration’s proposal of 110,000 refugees for fiscal year 2016: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) expresses concern for the safety of Sikhs 

3 and Hindus in Afghanistan; 

4 (2) condemns all terrorist attacks, religious per5 secution, and discrimination against members of the 

6 Sikh and Hindu religious minority communities in 

7 Afghanistan; 

8 (3) recognizes that members of the Sikh and 

9 Hindu communities face existential danger in Af10 ghanistan; and 

11 (4) supports resettling Sikhs and Hindus from 

12 Afghanistan in the United States under the United 

13 States Refugee Admissions Program pursuant to 

14 section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

15 (8 U.S.C. 1157). 

Æ 


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