Two Sikh men gunned down in Peshawar

PESHAWAR:

Two Sikh men were killed after unidentified assailants opened fire at them early Sunday morning in Bata Tal bazaar of Sarband, Peshawar.

The two assailants were riding a motorcycle when they opened fire on the victims, who owned spice shops in the bazaar. The victims died on the spot.

The deceased were identified as Saljeet Singh, 42, and Ranjeet Singh, 38.

Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Mahmood Khan strongly condemned the killing of two persons of the Sikh community.

Peshawar Capital City Police Officer Ijaz Khan in a statement confirmed the murder as a targeted killing by "anti-state" elements, adding it was aimed at spreading terror.

“The attackers chose the border area of Peshawar to carry out their attack on a holiday,” he pointed out and shared a search operation was underway.

The CCPO said that police reached the scene soon after and the bodies were shifted to the hospital for an autopsy. Evidence was being collected and CCTV cameras were being checked, he said.

He said the killers had also recently targeted government employees, including police officials and added the case will be traced soon.

Inhabitants of Jogan Shah Mohalla – a Sikh neighbourhood – the two families had moved to Peshawar in 2009 after fleeing unrest in the Tirah Valley.

Condemnations from government officials and rights activists poured in following the shocking killings.

In a statement, PM Shehbaz told the chief minister to take steps to ensure the safety of the lives and the property of citizens, especially minorities. He also directed the K-P CM to ensure the arrest of the suspects and punish them according to the law.

He held "Pakistan's enemies" responsible for the incident and vowed to "eradicate them from the face of the earth". He also assured the victims' families of the federal government's full cooperation in arresting the suspects.

Read: 3 soldiers, children martyred in suicide blast in North Waziristan

Sikh community in shock

The killing of the two members of the Sikh community is the latest in a series of targeted attacks on the community which continues to live under mounting fear.

Left shocked by the latest attack on the community, leaders of the Sikh community led a protest rally from the historic Dabgari gurdwara to condemn the attack and press the government to bring an end to the sustained killings.

A large number of people poured into the streets demanding justice. The Hashtnagri road, packed with protestors, remained blocked for three hours.

The demonstrators called on the government to provide security to the minority community and take effective steps to prevent targeted killings.

Sikh community leader Dr Sahib Singh while talking to The Express Tribune said that the incident was very shocking. He recalled that a compensation package of Rs3 million per head had been given to the victims of the Kocha Risaldar suicide attack, demanding the same should be given to the poor families of the victims.

He lamented that the government has failed to give any compensation package to the family of Sikh hakeem who was killed inside his clinic in the Faqirabad area last year.

In September last year, Sikh hakeem Satnam Singh was shot dead on Charsadda Road in the provincial capital.

Banned militant outfit Islamic State group’s Khorasan chapter (IS-K) had claimed responsibility for the attack. The police claimed in Dec last year to have killed three IS-K commanders in the city insisting the militants were involved in the murder of the Sikh hakeem and other attacks.

According to an Annual Security Assessment Report conducted by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict, extremism in Pakistan increased last year. The report found that there were 57 per cent more militant attacks in 2021 compared to 2020.

Also read: Claiming Kartarpur: Sikh community irked by Indian rhetoric

As a result of these attacks, 395 people were killed and 629 were injured, a 48 per cent and six per cent increase in these respective numbers from last year.

However, according to sources in the K-P police, an alert had been issued to the Sikh community in Peshawar, Swabi, Buner and Malakand in the wake of a slew of attacks, following which the beleaguered community was forced to adopt security measures.

Meanwhile, community leaders at Sunday’s protest rally said the terror attacks have taken a severe toll on their livelihood and business prospects in the provincial capital.