Prominent Sikh murdered by ISIS-K in Pakistan

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Apparently, the infamous Islamic terrorist outfit, the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the popular hakeem and his death through a social media post on late Thursday late evening. Writes Ashlyn Davis

A prominent member of the Sikh community in Pakistan, Sardar Satnam Singh, was shot dead on Thursday, September 30 in Pakistan’s Peshawar. A resident of Hasanbdal, Singh was a renowned hakeem (doctor of traditional medicine) and was killed at his clinic “Dharandar Dawakhana” located in the Charadda Road area. The 45-year-old was attacked by unidentified assailants who barged into his apothecary and pumped four bullets into his body. Despite being rushed to the nearby Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, Singh could not be saved; reportedly, he had died instantly after being shot at his clinic. Though police had rushed to apprehend the assailants, they successfully fled. Police have closed the clinic and cordoned off the region.

Singh had been living in Peshawar, which is the capital city of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for twenty years now; he was a well-known figure in this area, which is home to around 15,000 Sikhs. He is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.

Initially, there was no information about the attackers or the nature of the attack. It appeared to be one of the many routine and planned attacks on the members of the religious minority common in the Islamic nation. Police were also carrying on with the investigations, and looking at the murder from various angles; so far, they have been unable to provide much information on the crime or its motive.

Apparently, the infamous Islamic terrorist outfit, the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the popular hakeem and his death through a social media post on late Thursday late evening. An Afghanistan-based offshoot of the Islamic State, ISIS-K was formed in 2015 by militants who were previously associated either with the Afghanistan Taliban or the Pakistan Taliban.

The terror outfit has been active after the Taliban’s occupation of Afghanistan. ISIS-K also carried out a fatal suicide attack at the Kabul airport on August 26 which claimed around 170 Afghan lives and killed 13 US military personnel. The outfit didn’t shy away from claiming responsibility for that attack, either.

ISIS-K is marked for the fanaticism it has manifested within the mere six years of its existence, and surpasses the Taliban in brutality.

In Pakistan, after the Hindus, it is the Sikh community that has always borne the brunt of bigotry in this Islamic atmosphere; it has always been notable personalities of the Sikh community who have been targeted and killed in recent years.

In 2016, a member of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf National Assembly, Soren Singh, was gunned down near his residence in Peshawar. Apart from being a popular politician and television anchor, Soren Singh, too, was a doctor, like Sardar Satnam Singh. Though a political rival was initially booked for the murder, he was later acquitted by the anti-terrorism court. In 2018, prominent Sikh human rights activist Charanjit Singh was killed by unknown perpetrators at Scheme Chowk in the Budhbir area of Peshawar. In January 2020, a Muslim mob launched an attack at the Nankana Sahib gurdwara, which is a holy shrine of Sikhism. The mob hurled stones at the shrine and were determined to destroy it and build an Islamic religious establishment, the “Ghulaman-e-Mustafa” shrine, there.

While all these victims and their bereaved families await justice, another name is added to the ever-expanding list of victims of jihad.

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