In a major setback to tiny Pashtun Sikh community and fourth targeted killing in two years, a Sikh shopkeeper was shot dead in Peshawar of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan, Friday.
Dayal Singh, in his 40s, was sitting at his shop in Dir Colony market of Peshawar when an unidentified assailant arrived on a bike, entered his shop and shot him dead.
incident happened around 3 pm when the assailant entered Singh’s shop and asked for some goods. “As soon as Dayal Singh turned towards the other side to get those goods, the man opened fire indiscriminately. He was shot twice in the head and died on the spot. The assailant fled,” said Balbir Singh. Dayal Singh is survived by wife and three children. According to PTI, the police have collected 30 bore bullet shells from the site of the crime. CCTV footage from the shop has been obtained and the police have launched an investigation into the attack.
Local Sikh community members said that since 2014 there have been at least twelve such incidents in KPK when unidentified assailants came and targeted Sikhs. While some of them were injured, others lost lives. “Dr Soran Singh in 2016, Charanjit Singh in 2018, Ravinder Singh in 2020, Satnam Singh in 2021, Ranjit Singh and Kuljeet Singh in 2022 and now Dayal Singh… the list is endless,” said a local Sikh.