PESHAWAR: A young Pakistani Sikh who had recently returned to the country from abroad for his wedding was killed by unknown gunmen in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The killing comes days after a mob attack on Gurdwara Nankana Sahib near Lahore.
Parvinder Singh (25) had come to Peshawar from his native Chakesar town, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Shangla district, to shop for his wedding which was to be next month. Harmeet Singh, his brother and a journalist by profession, said his younger brother ran a small business in Malaysia and had arrived in Pakistan last month. “Last night one of the assailants called me from Parvinder’s phone and said that they had killed my brother,” Harmeet said, adding that he had immediately informed the police about the incident.
“The problem here with us (minorities) is that we are very vulnerable. Police stations do not register our complaints unless they receive orders from their top bosses,” Harmeet said. In Chandigarh, reacting to the murder, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh tweeted, “Shocked & anguished over killing of Sikh youth in #Pakistan, coming on heels of #NankanaSahibAttack. @ImranKhanPTI govt must ensure thorough investigation & strict punishment for the culprits. This is the time to act on what you preach.” Several local Sikhs said that around 40 Sikh families lived in Shangla 10 years ago but now only five families resided there.
India strongly condemned the murder of a Sikh citizen of Pakistan in Peshawar and urged the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan to stop attacks on religious minorities in the country and urged Pakistan to punish the perpetrators. The statement also highlighted the case of Sikh girl, Jagjit Kaur of Nankana Sahib who was allegedly abducted and forcibly married.
