File Photo. Asif Hassan—AFP
Pakistani Taliban claim killing Sikh minister in Buner district.
A provincial minister for minority affairs was on Friday shot dead in his car by Pakistani Taliban militants on motorbikes in the country’s restive northwest, officials said.
Sardar Soran Singh, who was Sikh, had held one of several seats reserved for religious minorities in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly.
“Gunmen riding on two motorbikes came in front of the car and started indiscriminate firing which killed the minister on the spot,” said Khalid Hamadani, district police chief. He said the minister received several bullets to his head in a shooting, which took place in Buner district.
Provincial information minister Mushtaq Ghani confirmed the incident.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing of Singh. “These activities will continue until implementation of Islamic system in Pakistan,” Mohammad Khorasani, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, said in an emailed statement late Friday.
Singh’s murder was widely condemned by his fellow lawmakers and rights activists. Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party rules Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, urged his government to set up an inquiry commission. “Shocked at murder of PTI’s KP MPA & Minorities Minister Sooran Singh. KP govt must immed set up inquiry. A great loss for all of us,” Khan tweeted.