Kidnapped Sikh trader returns home after 32 days

A member of Sikh community says, police played no role in Rakbir's safe return.

PESHAWAR:

Sikh trader Rakbir Singh, who was earlier abducted for ransom, returned home safely on Friday night after 32 days in captivity.

Rakbir was kidnapped on January 22 from near his residence in Quaidabad by armed men, who shoved him inside a van and drove off. The incident occurred in the jurisdiction of Banamarhi police station which later registered an FIR.

Rakbir is a shopkeeper in Karkhano market and was returning home from Gurdwara Joga Singh in Mohallah Jogan Shah when the incident occurred.

“He spent 32 days with the kidnappers and was released on Friday evening,” said a member of the Sikh community requesting anonymity. He added the police played no role in his safe return and speculated Rakbir’s family might have paid ransom to his abductors.

There are at least 500 Sikh families living in Peshawar. Most of them have migrated from Khyber, Kurram and Orakzai agencies, where they were operating their businesses for centuries.

The community has time and again complained they are regularly targeted by armed robbers. In January, the mutilated body of a Sikh businessman was found in a gunny bag in Choura village of tehsil Jamrud, Khyber Agency. Mahinder Singh had been missing for two months before he was found dead.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2013.