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 commu-
nities 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 commu-
nities. 
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 Afghani-
stan, 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 at-
tempts 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 commu-
nities in Afghanistan, who had assembled to meet the Af-
ghan President; 
Whereas these acts of violence follow a greater pattern of tar-
geted violence against Sikhs, Hindus, and other religious 
minorities in Afghanistan in recent years; 
Whereas the Department of State and United States Com-
mission on International Religious Freedom have docu-
mented systemic discrimination against Sikhs and Hin-
dus in Afghanistan, including restrictions on religious 
practices, illegal seizure of property, the inability to send 
their children to public schools due to harassment, judi-
cial bias against religious minorities, and constitutional 
limitations on the political rights of religious minorities; 
Whereas the former Taliban-led government routinely per-
secuted and discriminated against the Afghan Sikh com-
munity, restricting their funeral rites and forcing the 
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•HRES 1085 IH 
community to publicly identify themselves by wearing yel-
low armbands; and 
Whereas the President of the United States has proposed re-
settling 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 administra-
tion’s proposal of 110,000 refugees for fiscal year 2016: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) expresses concern for the safety of Sikhs 
and Hindus in Afghanistan; 
(2) condemns all terrorist attacks, religious per-
secution, and discrimination against members of the 
Sikh and Hindu religious minority communities in 
Afghanistan; 
(3) recognizes that members of the Sikh and 
Hindu communities face existential danger in Af-
ghanistan; and 
(4) supports resettling Sikhs and Hindus from 
Afghanistan in the United States under the United 
States Refugee Admissions Program pursuant to 
section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1157). 
Æ 
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