IS claims responsibility for killing Sikh in Peshawar

Published October 3, 2021
Police said  Satnam Singh was gunned down on Thursday in Peshawar. — AFP/File
Police said Satnam Singh was gunned down on Thursday in Peshawar. — AFP/File

ISLAMABAD: The militant Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing a member of the minority Sikh community earlier in the week in Peshawar city.

An IS statement issued late Friday described Satnam Singh, 45, as polytheist and said he was shot dead by IS members.

Pakistani officials have denied any organised IS presence in the country but the extremist group has claimed a number of attacks on security forces, mosques, political rallies and religious minorities in recent years.

Police said Singh was gunned down on Thursday in Peshawar. The gunmen fled the scene.

Singh, an herbalist, had lived in the city for the past 20 years and ran a small clinic selling herbal medicine.

The assailants opened fire at Singh inside the clinic, according to Sardar Harpal Singh, a local community leader. He denounced the incident and demanded the arrest of those involved in the killing. The two are not related.

The majority of Sikhs migrated from what is now Pakistan to neighboring India in 1947, the year British rule of the subcontinent ended and Pakistan was created as a homeland for Muslims in the region.

Thousands of them stayed in Pakistan, where they generally live peacefully, but isolated attacks on religious minorities, including Sikhs, have continued.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2021

Opinion

Editorial

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.