Many Hindus and Sikhs have left or are considering leaving Afghanistan due to increasing discrimination by the country’s religious majority, reports Hinduism Today (April/May/June). Hindu and Muslim residents estimate that the population has declined to about 7,000 from the approximately 200,000 Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan before 1992. One issue in contention is the Hindu and Sikh custom of burning their dead, which many Afghanis sees as anti-Islamic. Attempts have been made to stop the practice by disrupting funerals, throwing stones and shouting insults. The magazine also reports that Hindu and Sikh children are subject to bullying in their schools.
(Hinduism Today, http://www.hinduismtoday.com)