By Anurag Tripathi
On Sep 6, 2014, a 28-year-old Sikh man, identified as Harjeet Singh, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A few days earlier, on Sep 3, a member of the Sikh community was stabbed to death inside his shop in Shaheedan Bazaar of Mardan Town (Mardan District).
Prior to that, Aug 6, a Sikh shopkeeper, identified as Jagmohan Singh, was killed and two of his friends, one identified as Paramjit, were injured when unidentified armed assailants opened fire at them at Khushal Bazaar in Hashtnagri area of provincial capital Peshawar.
Pakistan’s treatment of its minorities has been shabby since its birth in 1947 on communal lines. It has become increasingly unsafe for minorities. In recent years, minorities who make up 3% of Pakistan’s 180 million people, including Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Shias, and Ahmadis have become the target of ongoing violence and persecution across the country.
The sporadic rise in the killings of minorities in Pakistan is a manifestation of the perpetual anarchy that has gripped the ‘land of the pure’ – Pakistan, with no hope of refuge for the targeted community. Militant outfits, like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its extremist allies, along with subtle State support, and ideological backing from religious elites, forms the militant troika that has encouraged and thereby sustained the killing of the minority community.
According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report titled ‘Violence towards Religious Communities in Pakistan’, published in August 2014, over the one-year period from July 2013 to June 2014, at least 430 people were killed in a total 122 attacks against minorities in Pakistan. These include 222 Shias in 54 attacks; 128 Christians in 22 recorded incidents; 10 Ahmadis in 10 such attacks; and two Sikhs in three attacks. There are four attacks recorded on the Hindu community in this period, with no fatality reported; 68 victims belonged to other religious/sectarian groups, in 29 attacks. In the corresponding period of the preceding year, a total of 567 people were killed in a total of 150 religiously motivated attacks, including 514 Shias killed in 54 attacks; 17 Ahmadis in 40 attacks; seven Christians in 32 attacks; two Hindus in 10 attacks; and one Sikh in two attacks. 26 ‘others’ were killed in another 12 incidents.
As is well evident from the above mentioned data, the targets in these cases of violence are mostly minorities both within and outside the realm of “Islam” often preached by the clerics to instigate and cause divide in the already fragmented Pakistani society.
Incidents of violence against the Sikhs in Pakistan have a long history. In 2010, TTP terrorists exhibited their barbarism by beheading two Sikh men, identified as Jaspal Singh and Mahal Singh in the Khyber and Orakzai Agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and sent their heads to the Bhai Joga Singh Gurudwara (Sikhs place of worship) in Peshawar. Two of their companions, identified as Gurvinder Singh and Gurjit Singh, were held captive by the terrorists. This spine chilling incident came after repeated threats to the community to convert to Islam.
In April 2009, in a painful case of history repeating itself, TTP started levying ‘Jaziya’ (tax) on minority Sikh families in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Taliban militants in their first-ever attack on the Sikh community, resorted to forcible occupation of ten of their houses in Samar Ferozkhel area of lower Orakzai Agency. The militants also took their leader Sardar Kalyan Singh as hostage and demanded PKR 60 million as ransom. The incidents triggered an exodus by the Sikh community from the area.
A media report on April 15, 2009 from Hangu said Sikh families living in Orakzai Agency left the area after the TTP demanded PKR50 million as ‘Jaziya’ from them. On April 30, 2009, TTP in Orakzai Agency of FATA banished 50 Sikh families from the agency for not paying Jaziya and even auctioned their goods to recover a fraction of the PKR12 million taxes originally demanded.
Meanwhile, on the recent incidents on Sikh minorities, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak while strongly condemning the gruesome target killing of a Sikh trader and rendering of his two companions injured near Hashtnagri has termed it a heinous terror attempt and conspiracy of the anti-state and anti-nation elements in the pretext of Waziristan operation. The chief minister said the Sikh community is part and parcel of our entity and their services for the nation and country are an open secret.
Global Minorities Alliance Chief Executive, Manassi Bernard, lamented the Pakistan government’s inability to protect minorities who continue to face all forms of violence, intimidation and persecution under one pretext or another. He expressed his condolences to the bereaved family and demanded that the Pakistan government punish the culprit as soon as possible. He further added: “Sikh communities are the peaceful citizens of Pakistan who are working hard to feed their families through the sweat of their brow. The Pakistan government should ensure that protection be provided to its own citizens.”
Despite these often repeated and brazen threats, the government, both at the centre and in the Province, has initiated no corrective measures.
Conspicuously, the State’s inaction in mounting effective resistance against the militants is suggestive of collusion and collaboration, each serving the interest of the other. Pakistan has become the operational base for various sectarian militant outfits. The killing of Sikhs is a manifestation of the existence of an embedded militant troika – where three crucial players – religious heads, militant operators and the State, work in tandem in massacring the fraught community.
Friday, September 12, 2014
PAKISTAN: SIKH AND MINORITY TARGETING NEEDS TO STOP – ANALYSIS
By Anurag Tripathi
On Sep 6, 2014, a 28-year-old Sikh man, identified as Harjeet Singh, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A few days earlier, on Sep 3, a member of the Sikh community was stabbed to death inside his shop in Shaheedan Bazaar of Mardan Town (Mardan District).
Prior to that, Aug 6, a Sikh shopkeeper, identified as Jagmohan Singh, was killed and two of his friends, one identified as Paramjit, were injured when unidentified armed assailants opened fire at them at Khushal Bazaar in Hashtnagri area of provincial capital Peshawar.
Pakistan’s treatment of its minorities has been shabby since its birth in 1947 on communal lines. It has become increasingly unsafe for minorities. In recent years, minorities who make up 3% of Pakistan’s 180 million people, including Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Shias, and Ahmadis have become the target of ongoing violence and persecution across the country.
The sporadic rise in the killings of minorities in Pakistan is a manifestation of the perpetual anarchy that has gripped the ‘land of the pure’ – Pakistan, with no hope of refuge for the targeted community. Militant outfits, like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its extremist allies, along with subtle State support, and ideological backing from religious elites, forms the militant troika that has encouraged and thereby sustained the killing of the minority community.
According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report titled ‘Violence towards Religious Communities in Pakistan’, published in August 2014, over the one-year period from July 2013 to June 2014, at least 430 people were killed in a total 122 attacks against minorities in Pakistan. These include 222 Shias in 54 attacks; 128 Christians in 22 recorded incidents; 10 Ahmadis in 10 such attacks; and two Sikhs in three attacks. There are four attacks recorded on the Hindu community in this period, with no fatality reported; 68 victims belonged to other religious/sectarian groups, in 29 attacks. In the corresponding period of the preceding year, a total of 567 people were killed in a total of 150 religiously motivated attacks, including 514 Shias killed in 54 attacks; 17 Ahmadis in 40 attacks; seven Christians in 32 attacks; two Hindus in 10 attacks; and one Sikh in two attacks. 26 ‘others’ were killed in another 12 incidents.
As is well evident from the above mentioned data, the targets in these cases of violence are mostly minorities both within and outside the realm of “Islam” often preached by the clerics to instigate and cause divide in the already fragmented Pakistani society.
Incidents of violence against the Sikhs in Pakistan have a long history. In 2010, TTP terrorists exhibited their barbarism by beheading two Sikh men, identified as Jaspal Singh and Mahal Singh in the Khyber and Orakzai Agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and sent their heads to the Bhai Joga Singh Gurudwara (Sikhs place of worship) in Peshawar. Two of their companions, identified as Gurvinder Singh and Gurjit Singh, were held captive by the terrorists. This spine chilling incident came after repeated threats to the community to convert to Islam.
In April 2009, in a painful case of history repeating itself, TTP started levying ‘Jaziya’ (tax) on minority Sikh families in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Taliban militants in their first-ever attack on the Sikh community, resorted to forcible occupation of ten of their houses in Samar Ferozkhel area of lower Orakzai Agency. The militants also took their leader Sardar Kalyan Singh as hostage and demanded PKR 60 million as ransom. The incidents triggered an exodus by the Sikh community from the area.
A media report on April 15, 2009 from Hangu said Sikh families living in Orakzai Agency left the area after the TTP demanded PKR50 million as ‘Jaziya’ from them. On April 30, 2009, TTP in Orakzai Agency of FATA banished 50 Sikh families from the agency for not paying Jaziya and even auctioned their goods to recover a fraction of the PKR12 million taxes originally demanded.
Meanwhile, on the recent incidents on Sikh minorities, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak while strongly condemning the gruesome target killing of a Sikh trader and rendering of his two companions injured near Hashtnagri has termed it a heinous terror attempt and conspiracy of the anti-state and anti-nation elements in the pretext of Waziristan operation. The chief minister said the Sikh community is part and parcel of our entity and their services for the nation and country are an open secret.
Global Minorities Alliance Chief Executive, Manassi Bernard, lamented the Pakistan government’s inability to protect minorities who continue to face all forms of violence, intimidation and persecution under one pretext or another. He expressed his condolences to the bereaved family and demanded that the Pakistan government punish the culprit as soon as possible. He further added: “Sikh communities are the peaceful citizens of Pakistan who are working hard to feed their families through the sweat of their brow. The Pakistan government should ensure that protection be provided to its own citizens.”
Despite these often repeated and brazen threats, the government, both at the centre and in the Province, has initiated no corrective measures.
Conspicuously, the State’s inaction in mounting effective resistance against the militants is suggestive of collusion and collaboration, each serving the interest of the other. Pakistan has become the operational base for various sectarian militant outfits. The killing of Sikhs is a manifestation of the existence of an embedded militant troika – where three crucial players – religious heads, militant operators and the State, work in tandem in massacring the fraught community.
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