BUNER: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) minority lawmaker Sardar Soran Singh was shot dead by assailants in Buner district on Friday evening. The victim was also serving as special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on minority affairs.

The attackers opened fire on Mr Singh when he was walking home after parking his official car in the garage. The site is close to his residence at Pacha Kalay in Pir Baba Bazaar.

A local resident told Dawn that the incident occurred after sunset and that there were no witnesses. Women of Mr Singh’s household, assisted by neighbours, shifted his body to the tehsil headquarters hospital in Pacha Kalay. The body was handed over to the family after the completion of medico-legal formalities.

Buner District Police Officer (DPO) Khalid Hamdani said there were apparently two attackers, who managed to escape. The officer said police were trying to ascertain whether the murder was linked to militancy or there were some other motives.

Family members told Dawn that Mr Singh was survived by a widow and an ailing mother. His two children — a daughter and a son — are in India with their divorced mother. They added that Mr Singh was unwilling to leave Pakistan while his Indian national wife not ready to live in Pakistan, which led to the divorce.

His final rites will be offered on Saturday, according to family members.

Mr Singh is the fourth PTI lawmaker in the current provincial assembly to have been murdered. Shah Faisal belonging to Hangu district was shot dead by attackers, while KP law minister Israrullah Khan Gandapur and Imran Mohmand were killed in bomb attacks.

An officer of the Pir Baba police station told Dawn that they were carrying out a search operation in the area, while the Counter Terrorism Department would investigate the case.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2016