Peshawar - A prominent Sikh leader and human rights activist Sardar Charanjit Singh was shot dead by unknown assailants in his shop in Peshawar on Tuesday.
A police official said unknown motorcyclists opened fire at Charanjit Singh, 52, killing him instantly. “An attacker shot Singh inside his shop and escaped afterwards,” superintendent police Saddar Shaukat Khan told newsmen. The Sikh leader died on the spot.
Leaders of the Sikh community, Radesh Singh Tooni and Sardar Jitendra Singh, called the murder an act of terror. Jitendra Singh said that Charanjit was not only a leader of the Sikh community, he was also very popular and respected among the Muslim community throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was an active member of different groups engaged in creating and promoting religious harmony and used to discourage militancy and terrorism.
A large number of Sikhs assembled at Lady Reading Hospital and Jogewara Temple in Peshawar after learning of the murder.
Belonging to Tirah Valley of far-flung Khyber Agency, Charanjit moved to Peshawar along with close relatives around two decades ago. It was not clear whether the crime was a target killing or a result of personal enmity. The murder caused panic among the Sikh community as some of them have been targeted by different attacks around the city before.
FOUR DEAD IN CHARSADDA CLASH
Four people died and another injured when two groups fired at each other during a burial at a cemetery on Tuesday, TV channels reported.
According to police, a group was busy in a burial when an altercation occurred between the two groups, leading to firing. Three people died on the spot while another succumbed to his wounds while being transported to the hospital. Another injured in the incident is under treatment at the Lady Reading Hospital.
