Pakistan: Sikh legislator Soran Singh shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Peshawar: In a shocking incident, Pakistani Taliban gunmen on Friday shot dead a prominent Sikh figure and opposition party worker.

It is the latest attack on a religious minority in the majority-Muslim nation.

Soran Singh was a prominent figure in Pakistan's tiny Sikh community and an adviser to a provincial chief minister, representing cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party.

 

According to local police officer Shaukat Khan, Singh was attacked by gunmen in his native village in the Buner valley in northwest Pakistan.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammad Khurasani said the Taliban carried out the killing, and would continue attacks until their version of strict Islamic law was established in Pakistan.

 

The PTI said Islam's laws and the Pakistani constitution provided for the protection of religious minorities.

"The brutal killing of Soran Singh is extremely saddening," Khan said in a statement, describing Singh as a patriotic Pakistani and loyal party worker.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Saturday strongly condemned killing of Soran Singh. "This heinous act of Tehreek-e-Taliban is highly deplorable. The Pakistan Government should take strict action against them and the culprits must get booked," SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar told news agency ANI.

Sikhs make up less than 1 percent of Pakistan's 190 million people. Many see Pakistan as the place where their religion began.

(With Reuters inputs)