SGPC chief condemns murder of Sikh man in Pakistan

Amritsar: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Harjinder Singh Dhami on Sunday condemned the murder of a Sikh man in Pakistan.

Manmohan Singh, 35, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen when he was on his way to the interior city area of Peshawar from Rasheed Garhi, a suburban locality of Peshawar.

In a statement here on Sunday, Dhami said the murder of Manmohan Singh in Pakistan is a very unfortunate incident.

“The government there should be serious about the security of minority Sikhs in Pakistan. This is the second incident of attack on Sikhs in two days,” he said.

Dhami said it is sad that many such incidents have taken place in Pakistan in the past, too. If the government had given severe punishment to the culprits in past cases, then this would not have happened again, he added.

The SGPC president sought strict action from Pakistan’s government against those who killed the Sikh shopkeeper.

He appealed to the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to express strong objection to the Pakistan government in this matter at the diplomatic level and ask them to take appropriate steps to protect the lives and property of the minority Sikhs in future.

This is the second incident of armed attack on a Sikh man in the Yakka Toot area in the last 48 hours. A Sikh man was injured after he sustained bullet wounds on his legs on Friday.

A Sikh businessman was shot dead in the city by unknown assailants in March. About 15,000 Sikhs live in Peshawar, mostly in the Jogan Shah neighbourhood of the provincial capital Peshawar.

Most of the members of the Sikh community in Peshawar are involved in business, while some also have pharmacies.

In September last year, a well-known Sikh ‘Hakeem’ (Unani medicine practitioner) was shot dead by unidentified gunmen inside his clinic in Peshawar.

In 2018, Charanjit Singh, a prominent Sikh community member, was killed by unknown men in Peshawar. Similarly, news channel anchor Ravinder Singh was killed in 2020 in the city.

In 2016, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf National Assembly member Soren Singh was also killed in Peshawar. Hindus form the biggest minority community in the Muslim-majority country.