Minority Hindu & SIkh families leave KP province over security threat
PESHAWAR: Many families of minorities in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have migrated to other parts of the country or abroad due to the worsening security situation, according to a religious scholar and Hindu rights activist.
Haroon Sarabdiyal of the Pakistan Hindu Mandir Management Committee said that Hindu, Sikh and Christian families mostly shifted to Punjab and Sindh provinces while some moved to foreign countries.
The worsening law and order situation in the province has forced the Hindu and Sikh traders to leave their ancestral homes for a peaceful living elsewhere, he said.
Many Sikh families also left Mohallah Jogan Shah, one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Sikhs in Peshawar, due to an increase in incidents of target killings in the province over the last few years.
The locality, situated near Dabgari, is home to a historic gurdwara and a community school of Sikhs. Around 6,000 Sikhs lived in Mohallah Jogan Shah.
“This is the area where our ancestors lived and we have maintained our culture, traditions and our own educational system,” said 50-year-old Pardeep Singh.
According to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), at least 179 terrorism-related incidents took place in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan this year till April-end.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province borders war-torn Afghanistan where militants have hideouts. The province has been a target of terrorists who easily cross the porous border and go back after launching attacks, according to Pakistani officials.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province borders Afghanistan and has been a target of terrorists who easily cross the porous borders