PESHAWAR: Minority rights activists have expressed concern about the targeted killing of non-Muslims in Peshawar and demanded of the provincial government to take immediate steps for the arrest of the killers and the compensation of the families concerned.

Hindu Rights Movement of Pakistan chairman Haroon Sarabdyal told reporters here on Monday that during the last one week, three people, including a member of the Hindu community, Dr Birbal Genani, were killed in the country.

He said that Dr Birbal was a former Karachi Metropolitan Corporation senior director (health) and killed by gunmen near Layari area on March 30 as he was on the way home from his clinic.

Similarly, member of the Sikh community Dyal Singh was gunned down inside his shop in Dir Colony area. Sanitation worker Kashif Masih of the Christian community was killed by unidentified men on his way to home in Peshtakhara area.

“The law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is grave, so non-Muslims have started shifting to the Punjab province,” he said.

Mr Haroon claimed that at least 68 people belonging to the three minority communities (28 Sikhs), 30 Christians, and 10 Hindus were killed in targeted attacks in the country but the attackers had not been arrested.

He said religious minorities were often subjected to violence even though the country’s Constitution guaranteed their rights.

“The government should take serious measures to unveil the real faces of the people involved in heinous crimes against non-Muslims as they’re carried out under a well-organised conspiracy to disturb peace in the country,” he said.

He said everyone should join hands to foil those conspiracies and discourage anti-state elements.

“The frequent incidents have caused a serious unrest among non-Muslims and it is the duty of the provincial government to ensure our protection,” the Hindu leader said.

He said the federal government should fully implement the National Action Plan to remove terrorism from the country once and for all.

Shahzad Murad, the vicar of All Saints Church in Peshawar, condemned the latest attacks of terrorism against non-Muslims and urged the government to ensure protection of those communities and pay the compensation to the families of terror victims.

He told Dawn that the members of minority communities were soft target for the anti-state elements.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2023