16 months later, K-P Assembly without Soran Singh substitute

After murder of MPA Suran Singh, government halts all development work he started

PESHAWAR: One of the three seats for minorities in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has been lying vacant since the murder of MPA Sardar Suran Singh some 16 months ago, bringing to a halt the development work he had taken up.

“MPA Singh had succeeded in getting Rs80 million allocated for minorities in the provincial budget 2016-17, but after his death only Rs50 million has been allocated in the 2017-18 budget,” Pakistan Minorities’ Alliance President Radesh Singh Tony told The Express Tribune on Monday.

“The amount deducted from the allocation for minorities [Rs30 million] has been given to the Haqqania Madrassa,” he claimed.



“Suran had started various developmental works for minorities in the province,” he said, adding that after his assassination, the government halted them, depriving the minorities of their due rights.

Tony said that Suran had approved construction of new Shamshan Ghats (Hindu graveyards) in Buner and Kohat and had also managed to allocate funds for construction of boundary walls of Christian graveyards.

“Funds that were allocated for repair and maintenance of Gurdwara Bhai Joga Shah in Dabgari Garden, Peshawar have also not been utilised,” he added.

Being the remarkable man that he was, Tony said that the deceased had also raised his voice for increasing minorities’ quota in government jobs and seats for students in different colleges and universities.

After the death of Suran on April 22, 2016, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led K-P government, on May 5, 2016, had appointed Ravi Kumar as adviser to the chief minister for monitories.

About the new adviser, Tony said, “He is just like a puppet and has not played any role for the welfare of the minorities.”

President of Sankar Society, Zahid Kumar, said that the minorities living in the province were facing various challenges, but there was no one to raise their voice.



He said, “A Sikh’s school has been closed in Peshawar, but no one even raised the issue, which is yet to be solved.”

He demanded that the government nominate a permanent member from the minorities, who could raise their voice on the assembly floor.

A social activist, Manjeet Singh, said, “We have been demanding a separate curriculum for school children, but no one pays any heed to our concerns.”

He said that Suran even managed to get ethic books distributed in government schools, but there was no one to teach them.

After the death of Suran, the second one in line for the seat was Baldev Kumar, but he was in jail for allegedly killing Suran. The third and only option was Ravi Kumar, who had been appointed as the adviser.

The Election Commission of Pakistan’s Peshawar spokesperson Sohail Khan confirmed that after the assassination of Suran, Baldev was the favourite and Ravi Kumar was hardly in sight.

“Baldev is still in jail and PTI has appointed Ravi as the adviser to the CM,” he added.