The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for the assassination of a prominent Sikh politician who was shot dead by motorcycle-borne gunmen on Friday near his home in the country’s restive northwest.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said in a statement that sharp shooters of the special task force of TTP “successfully” targeted Sardar Sooran Singh in his home district Buner.
The TTP also threatened that its “Mujahideen would continue to target the people creating hurdles in its mission”. “Such activities would continue till the enforcement of Islamic system in the country,” it said.
Singh, who was the special assistant to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Minority Affairs, was assassinated in Pir Baba area of Buner district in the province.
The last rites of Singh were held in Buner. A large number of people from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which is in power in restive KP province, and other political parties attended the funeral. The murder was widely condemned by fellow politicians and rights activists.
Imran calls for probe Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who leads the PTI, asked the KP provincial government to set up an inquiry commission to probe the assassination.
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,” Mr. Khan said in a statement, describing Singh as a patriotic Pakistani and loyal party worker. “Shocked at murder of PTI’s KP MPA & Minorities Minister Sooran Singh. KP govt must immed set up inquiry. A great loss for all of us,” he later tweeted.
Singh was a doctor, TV anchor and politician. Before joining the PTI in 2011, he was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan for nine years.
He was also a member of Tehsil council, Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and Evacuee Trust Property Board.
In 2011, the Pakistani Taliban shot dead a Christian minorities minister in Islamabad.
Discrimination and violence against religious minorities is commonplace in Pakistan, where Muslims account for more than 90 percent of the population. Sikhs make up less than 1 percent of Pakistan's 190 million people. Many see Pakistan as the place where their religion began.
