by Jibran Khan

In recent days, three members of the community were targeted in their stores: one dead and two seriously injured. Yesterday protests blocked one of the main streets of the city. Protesters demand justice and the arrest of the perpetrators of the raid. Minorities increasingly at risk in Pakistan.

Islamabad (AsiaNews) - "We fear for our lives, we are forced to relocate from the city of our forefathers. The government has failed to provide us security and our business has suffered due to such incidents". These are the words of accusation and indignation directed at Islamabad by the Sikh leader Buldave Singh, senior representative of the religious minority in Peshawar. He is blaming the central executive and the provincial government of Khyber Pukhtunkhawa for being unable to stem ethnic and confessional violence in Pakistan. The attack against the Sikhs in the northern province follows the assault on Ahmadis in Gujranwala, in late July, which caused the death of four people, including two children.

On August 5 last three members of the Sikh community - Jasmot Singh, Bahram Singh and Manmit Singh - were attacked while they were inside their shops, located in the old part of the city of Peshawar. Jasmot died in the hours following the attack from his injuries, the other two men are in critical conditions in hospital.

Yesterday, the minority took to the streets to protest against the attack, accusing the provincial government of not being able to guarantee - in the past few years- the security of minorities. The protesters blocked one of the main arteries of the city, demanding the local administration bring the perpetrators to justice.

In the recent past Peshawar was the scene of bloody attacks against mosques and churches.  The memory is still alive of the massacre of September 22, 2013 at All Saints Church in Peshawar, when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the air in the vicinity of the building causing more 140 dead and 161 wounded. Last January, a bomb hit a mosque during a prayer for peace and inter-religious coexistence, causing dozens of dead and wounded.

With a population of more than 180 million people (97 per cent Muslim), Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world, the second largest Muslim nation after Indonesia. About 80 per cent of Muslims are Sunni, whilst Shias are 20 per cent. Hindus are 1.85 per cent, followed by Christians (1.6 per cent) and Sikhs (0.04 per cent). Since the campaign of violence by the Pakistani Taliban in 2007 more than 6,800 people were killed in bombings, explosions and assassinations throughout the country.

 

 

• pakistan
• minorities
• rights
• attack
• sikh
• protest
• peshawar