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Sikh Lawmaker Assassinated In Northwestern Pakistan


Sardar Soran Singh (left) being interviewed by Radio Mashaal. (file photo)
Sardar Soran Singh (left) being interviewed by Radio Mashaal. (file photo)

A Sikh lawmaker and political adviser has been shot dead by Pakistani Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan.

Sardan Soran Singh, a Sikh member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly who also was an adviser to the chief minister of the region, was killed in the Buner district on April 22.

Singh was a prominent member of the region's Sikh community.

District police chief Khalid Hamadani said Singh was killed when his car was shot at by gunmen on two motorbikes.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammad Khurasani said the group carried out the killing.

"These activities will continue until the implementation of an Islamic system in Pakistan," Khurasani said in an e-mailed statement.

"The brutal killing of Soran Singh is extremely saddening," Khan said in a statement, describing Singh as a patriotic Pakistani and loyal party worker.

Singh joined the Tehrik-e Insaf party in 2011 and held one of several seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa parliament reserved for religious minorities.

Sikhs make up less than 1 percent of Pakistan's 190 million people. Many see Pakistan as the place where their religion began.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dawn.com

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