PESHAWAR: Unidentified assailants shot dead a Sikh trader inside his shop at Nauthia Bazaar, while two others persons were killed over a land dispute in a separate incident here on Saturday.
The trader was identified as Har Jeet Singh (30). His brother Rabeer Singh would usually assist him, but he was not present at the time of incident.
Gulberg police SHO Riaz Ali Shah while referring to statements of eyewitnesses told Dawn that two men armed with pistols entered the shop of the trader in the garb of customers and targeted him from close range.
“They were terrorists and we have registered a case against them under the terrorism law,” the SHO said and added that efforts were being made to arrest them. He said that the attackers had worn no masks and seemed to be trained.
CM gives police three days to arrest assailants
Another official said that the trader was the resident of Jogan Shah Street in Dabgari area of Peshawar and had been running a grocery shop at Nauthia since long. He was taken to Lady Reading Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.
The police tried to take his body to Khyber Medical College for autopsy, but the Sikh community opposed the postmortem. The people blocked the University Road and forced the police to hand the body over to the heirs instead of shifting it for postmortem.
“We will not file an FIR and allow postmortem of our victim because the government has failed to provide us protection and arrest the target killers of our people,” Sikh community leader Sardar Gurpal Singh told Dawn in his comments.
He said that some nine people of Sikh community had been killed at their workplaces in parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata during the past one year, but the killers could not be arrested so far.
The traders, he said, had no enmity but unknown target killers were after them. He said that the government was least bothered to take effective steps for safety of the people.
All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement Chairman Haroon Sarb Diyal has also condemned the murder of the trader and demanded of the government to provide protection to non-Muslims.
Two other people identified as Lateef and Sher Alam were killed over a land dispute while Farman Ali was injured in Dar Mango area of Peshawar the same day.
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has strongly condemned the assassination of Sikh shopkeeper Har Jeet Singh in Nauthia area. He termed this incident a targeted killing and terror act and set a three days deadline to local police for arrest of the two unknown assassins. He announced a compensation of Rs500,000 for his aggrieved family, assuring them that justice would be provided to them.
Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2014