PESHAWAR: In the second attack on the Sikh community in two consecutive days in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial capital, a victim was shot dead after unidentified armed men opened fire at him, The News International reported.
The victim was identified as Manmohan Singh who was murdered by unidentified assailants in Kakshal locality on Saturday.
“Manmohan Singh, 34, was on his way home in an auto-rickshaw on Saturday evening when unidentified armed men opened fire on him near Guldara, Kakshal,” a spokesman for the capital city police said on Saturday night.
He was taken to hospital but he succumbed to injuries. The official said senior police officials and investigation teams have rushed to the spot to collect CCTV footage and other evidence. Besides, a search operation was also launched in the vicinity to arrest the culprits, reported The News International.
The inspector general of police Akhtar Hayat Khan said he has tasked the capital city police to arrest the culprits at the earliest.
A day earlier another Sikh was shot and injured in the Dabgari area of the provincial capital. The second incident in two days triggered concerns among the locals.
The victim was identified as Tarlug Singh son of Makhan Singh was shot in the leg by unidentified armed men in Dabgari.
He was taken to hospital where his condition was out of danger. In recent months, a Sikh was shot dead in his shop in Dir Colony. Also, attacks on Sikhs were reported near Kohat Adda and Sarband last year.
It’s the third attack on a Sikh community member this year in Pakistan. Last month, assailants gunned down Sardar Singh in a drive-by shooting in the eastern city of Lahore. Singh, 63, received a fatal gunshot to the head. Police officer Asad Abbas said the bodyguard was wounded in the attack, according to Pakistan Today.
In April, gunmen shot and killed Dayal Singh in Peshawar. In the same city in May 2022, gunmen killed two members of the Sikh community.
Last year, in May, May 15 recently, two Sikh traders–Kuljeet and Ranjit Singh- – were murdered on the outskirts of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Asian Lite International reported.
This was the ‘twelfth’ incident, which was reported between 2014-2022 when Sikhs were targeted by extremists in KP province alone. Moreover, in September last year, Satnam Singh, a Sikh Unani medicine practitioner was shot down inside his clinic in Peshawar, the report added, citing the local community.