Sikh businessman kidnapped two months ago found dead
Official says note warns others of similar fate.
Pallbearers’ carry Mahinder Singh’s coffin, who was the father of six. He was kidnapped two months ago. PHOTO IQBAL MAMOUND/EXPRESS
PESHAWAR/JAMRUD:
The mutilated body of a Sikh businessman was found in a gunny bag in Choura Village of Jamrud tehsil, Khyber Agency on Tuesday.
A tribesman of the village Hazrat Wali Afridi found the body of Mahinder Singh near a field early morning, said political administration official Asmatullah Wazir. He added Afridi informed the political administration, who shifted the body to Civil Hospital, Jamrud.
A father of six, Mahinder was a resident of Tabi Village in Landikotal tehsil. He was kidnapped two months earlier by unidentified militants from his shop where he used to sell herbal medicines, said Wazir.
He said a note was also found inside the gunny bag warning others of a similar fate if they are found spying for the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Islam headed by Mangal Bagh.
The body was later handed over to the relatives of the deceased. “The body of Mahinder Singh has been brought to Attock where it would be cremated as per our religious rituals,” Mahinder’s cousin Popandar Singh said.
He said this was the second such incident in which a Sikh was kidnapped and then brutally murdered.
Leader of the community Baba Amarjeet Singh said they requested the political administration to ensure Mahinder’s release several times, but no action was taken.
Earlier, Mahinder’s brother Baswant Singh was also kidnapped, but later released after militants chopped off his hair. In February 2010, the beheaded body of Chopal Singh was found in Tirah Valley.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2013.
The mutilated body of a Sikh businessman was found in a gunny bag in Choura Village of Jamrud tehsil, Khyber Agency on Tuesday.
A tribesman of the village Hazrat Wali Afridi found the body of Mahinder Singh near a field early morning, said political administration official Asmatullah Wazir. He added Afridi informed the political administration, who shifted the body to Civil Hospital, Jamrud.
A father of six, Mahinder was a resident of Tabi Village in Landikotal tehsil. He was kidnapped two months earlier by unidentified militants from his shop where he used to sell herbal medicines, said Wazir.
He said a note was also found inside the gunny bag warning others of a similar fate if they are found spying for the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Islam headed by Mangal Bagh.
The body was later handed over to the relatives of the deceased. “The body of Mahinder Singh has been brought to Attock where it would be cremated as per our religious rituals,” Mahinder’s cousin Popandar Singh said.
He said this was the second such incident in which a Sikh was kidnapped and then brutally murdered.
Leader of the community Baba Amarjeet Singh said they requested the political administration to ensure Mahinder’s release several times, but no action was taken.
Earlier, Mahinder’s brother Baswant Singh was also kidnapped, but later released after militants chopped off his hair. In February 2010, the beheaded body of Chopal Singh was found in Tirah Valley.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2013.