PESHAWAR - Gunmen on a motorcycle Saturday shot dead another Sikh shopkeeper in Nothia Bazaar of Peshawar, officials said
It was the third attack on any Sikh community member in the last one month. Harjeet Singh, 25, was sitting at his grocery shop in Nothia Bazaar in the limits of Gulberg Police Station when reportedly two unidentified armed men opened fire on him.
Harjeet, a resident of Dabgari Garden area, received multiple bullet wounds. He was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar where he succumbed to his injuries, police said, adding it could be a targeted killing.
On August 6, a Sikh was killed in a similar attack. Two other persons were also injured in the assault. Three days ago, another Sikh was killed in Mardan district for reasons yet to be known.
To condemn targeted killings of the members of Sikh community, a rally was taken out in Peshawar. Participants asked the government to provide protection to the Sikh community.
Sources said in order to draw a future plan of action for security of the community members, a high level meetings between police officials and representatives of Sikh community will be held today (Sunday).
Meanwhile, KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has strongly condemned assassination of Sikh shopkeeper Harjeet Singh in Nothia area. He, while terming the killing a targeted incident and a terror act, set a deadline of three days for local police to arrest the two assassins.
He made it clear that repeated attacks on people belonging to Sikh community had put a question mark on the performance of police officers.
The chief minister announced a compensation amount of Rs half million for the heirs of slain Sikh shopkeeper Harjeet Singh and assured his aggrieved family that justice will be provided to them and the killers will be arrested at all cost.
Meanwhile, Advisor to CM on Minorities Sardar Soran Singh has also condemned this terror incident. He, after contacts with the affected family and high police officials, informed the chief minister of the entire situation wherein Pervez Khattak directed him for mobilising the police as well as local govt machinery for arrest of the killers and giving them exemplary punishment.
AFP adds: The shooting took place in the congested Nothia Bazaar of Peshawar which has seen frequent bomb blasts and suicide attacks by Taliban militants active in the tribal belt along Afghan border.
“Harjeet Singh, a herbal medicine trader, was shot dead outside his shop,” senior police official Faisal Shahzad told AFP.
Shahzad said nobody immediately claimed the responsibility for the shooting, but several militant groups were active and now targeting minorities to create unrest. Local police station chief Dost Mohammad confirmed the incident and details. Minorities in the country make up some two percent of Pakistan’s population of 180 million.
In September last year devastating double suicide attacks at the historic All Saints church in the main city area of Peshawar left 82 people dead.