Sikh man shot dead in Pakistan “Islamist terror attack”

A Sikh resident of Peshawar (Pakistan) was shot killed in what one Sikh organisation close to the region have described as an “Islamist terror attack” claimed by ISIS-K.

Satnam Singh, a 45-year-old well known “Hakeem” (unani medicine practitioner), was murdered in his pharmacy clinic on Thursday by as of yet unidentified gunmen in what seems a targeted attack. Whilst the Kashmir Sikh Project have stated the murder was a result of Islamist terror, Pakistan media outlets have said the motive of the killing is as of yet unknown.

United Sikhs have shared video footage of local protests, demanding justice for the killing. Satnam Singh’s murder is not the first in the region against a Sikh community figure. Charanjeet Singh, a community activist, was murdered in 2018 and Sikh politician Soran Singh was also slain in 2016. Whilst some sources have suggested these killings were not related to Islamic terror against the Sikh community of the city, local Sikh community leader Gurpal Singh said in 2018 of these killings, “Unfortunately those working for interfaith harmony like Soran Singh and Charanjeet Singh don’t live for long.”

Sikhs have faced various issues across Pakistan for decades, an issue which has seemingly not been impacted by current Prime Minister Imran Khan’s attempt at making inroads for Sikhs, largely based around increasing Sikh-faith based tourism in the country. Just last year one of the most important Sikh sites in the world – Nankana Sahib, where Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj was born – was attacked by a mob angry at a pursuit for justice by local Sikhs in a case of forced marriage and conversion.

Sikh PA Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh said of such issues, “Often the reason for killings of Sikhs in countries like Pakistan are unclear because of prolonged investigations which do not give a clear motive. This is reflected in media coverage around such killings. There seems to be a reluctance among Pakistani media and authorities to actually admit there is an issue of Islamic terror groups targeting Sikhs. Similarly, complaints about unfair judicial processes against forced conversion and marriage seem to go back to an issue of addressing anti-Sikh issues in the country.”

Updates on this story will be published when possible.