Known Sikh hakeem shot dead in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Unidentified attackers gunned down a known hakeem belonging to the Sikh community here on Thursday.

Sources said that Hakeem Sardar Satnam Singh was sitting in his dawakhana (clinic) on the Charsadda Road in the limits of Faqirabad Police Station when gunmen opened fire on him, leaving him seriously injured.

The attackers managed to escape. The injured Hakeem was taken to Lady Reading Hospital but he succumbed to his injuries. "We have collected empties and other evidence from the spot," said an official, adding, a high-level team had been constituted to investigate the case. Satnam Singh was a popular hakeem in the city. He was also the president of the Tehreek Tajdeed-e-Tibb, Peshawar chapter.

The Sikh community and people from different walks of life condemned the murder and demanded an early arrest of the killers. A few other Sikh community members were also killed in different attacks in Peshawar and other districts over the last several years.

The last incident was in January last year when a Sikh youth from Shangla, Parvinder Singh, was shot dead in Mardan and his body was dumped in Peshawar. Police later worked out the case and arrested his fiancée. The investigators said she had hired a target killer to kill Parvinder as she did not want to marry him.

Another Sikh community member, Charanjeet Singh, was shot dead at the Scheme Chowk on the Kohat Road in 2018. In April 2016, a member of the KP Assembly Sardar Suran Singh was killed in Buner. Some media outlets had reported militants claimed responsibility of the murder. Police, however, later arrested six persons, including a minority politician for involvement in the murder of Suran Singh. In 2010, two Sikhs were beheaded after they were kidnapped while another two were rescued by the security forces.