Sikh shopkeeper shot dead in Peshwar of Pakistan

New Delhi, April 1

A Sikh shopkeeper was shot dead in Peshawar of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan. 

The deceased was identified as Dayal Singh who owns a shop in Dir Colony market of Peshawar. 

As per the reports, an unidentified assailant arrived on a bike, entered his shop and shot him dead.  The incident happened around 3 pm on March 31 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 media reported that the police 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.

This is the fourth targetted killing of a person from Sikh community in Peshawar in past two years. 

Earlier, Satnam Singh, a hakeem, was shot dead inside his shop in Fariqabad of Peshawar on September 30, 2021. Then on May 15, 2022, two Sikh men Ranjit Singh and Kuljit Singh, were shot dead when they were sitting inside their shops at Batta Tal Chowk.

In all these cases, unidentified assailants barged into the shops of Sikh shopkeepers and shot them dead. Satnam’s killing was claimed by the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, dubbed Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K. Most Sikhs in Peshawar are from financially weak backgrounds and run small grocery/spices/hakeemi (traditional medicines) shops to earn livelihoods.

Dalbir Singh belonged to a Pashtun Sikh community in Peshwar, a community which has hardly a few thousands left in Pakistan.