Soran Singh (left, in an archive photo) was ambushed by unknown assailants on main road near a shrine. Soran Singh (left, in an archive photo) was ambushed by unknown assailants on main road near a shrine.

A Sikh Member of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in Pakistan, Soran Singh, was shot dead in the Buner district of the province Friday.

Soran Singh was a leading Sikh politician and special assistant on minorities’ affairs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

Pakistani media outlets, including the Dawn newspaper, said that unidentified gunmen opened fire on Soran Singh’s car on main road near a shrine as he was on his way home in the Pir Baba area of Buner district of the province.

The SHO of Pir Baba town was quoted in Pakistan media as saying that “Soran Singh was shot in the head and eye,” He was shifted to a hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

The body of the special assistant has been shifted to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem, police said.

The Deputy Commissioner, ADC Buner and police officials rushed to the site.

The President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party which is in power in KP province, Imran Khan, tweeted his reaction at the incident. He said, “Shocked at murder of PTIs KP MPA and Minorities Minister Sooran Singh. KP govt must immediately set up inquiry. A great loss for all of us”.

Singh had joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 2011 but had begun his political career with Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan.

He was a doctor, TV anchor, politician and Minister of Minorities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Singh was PTI Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) elected from District Buner.

He was also member of Tehsil council, Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and Evacuee Trust Property Board. Singh also hosted programme ‘Za Hum Pakistani Yam’ for three-and-a-half years with Khyber News.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has a sizeable number of Sikh population in Pakistan but there have been instances where Sikh traders have been targetted for ransom and killed.

Pakistan does not have a good track record of protecting minorities ministers with the federal minorities minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, being gunned down in Islamabad in March 2011 over blasphemy allegations. with pti inputs

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