A renowned Sikh religious leader and rights activist was on Tuesday gunned down here in Pakistan's northwestern city, according to a media report.
Charnjit Singh, 52, was killed inside his shop in Scheme Chowk area in the outskirts of the city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Express Tribune reported.
"An attacker shot Singh inside his shop and escaped afterwards. He died on the spot," superintendent police Saddar Shaukat Khan. It was not clear whether it was a target killing incident or a result of personal enmity.
Yet another act of terror. Sardar Charan Jeet Singh, activist and a leader of the Sikh community in #Peshawar, shot dead in his shop near Kohat Road. #Pakistan #minorityrights https://t.co/8egSOBTuZ0 pic.twitter.com/YC1LOpJUG1
— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) May 29, 2018
Leaders of the Sikh community, Radesh Singh Tooni and Sardar Jitendra Singh, have confirmed the killing and termed it an act of terror. Radesh Singh said that it is astonishing that on the second day of the democratic government’s end, an active and popular leader of Sikh community had been shot dead.
Jitendra reminded that Charan Jeet was not only a leader of the Sikh community, he was also very popular and respectable amongst the Muslim community throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was an active member of different groups engaged in creating and promoting religious harmony and used to discourage militancy and terrorism.
The deceased had been residing in Peshawar for decades but his family hailed from Kurram Agency. He owned a store in the metropolis for quite a long time, the report said.
The murder caused panic among the minority community as several Sikhs have been killed in different parts of the city in the past.
After knowing about the assassination of their leader, a large number of Sikhs assembled at Lady Reading Hospital and Jogewara Temple in Peshawar.
Most of the Sikhs residing in Peshawar are those whose families previously resided in different parts of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) but shifted to Peshawar and started a business.
