Pakhtunkhwa’s Sikh Community concerned as threatening phone calls from money extortionists become common
The Sikh community living inside the old walled city in Mohallah Jogan Shah expressed that they weren't happy with the local police's attitude.
The deteriorating law and order situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has made the Sikh community its most prominent victim. The crime rate is on the rise in the province as members of the community residing in Peshawar have fallen prey to money extortionists’ once again.
Sikh Traders share Extortion Call details
A local Sikh trader, who has a cosmetics shop in the Karkhano Market, shared that he recently received a call from Afghan numbers. According to reports, the people asked him to pay charity money to the militants. The Sikh businessman has received two calls for extortion in two days and is being threatened with dire consequences if he fails to pay up.
What is the Police doing?
The Hayatabad police have opened an inquiry into the case after learning about the extortion activity from victims. A member of the Sikh community shared:
”The Police had been informed in January about the calls. Now we hope that the culprits behind the calls will be arrested. However, their arrest is highly unlikely as they operate from across the border in Afghanistan”.
Sikh Community unhappy with the Police
The Sikh community living inside the old walled city in Mohallah Jogan Shah expressed that they weren’t happy with the local police’s attitude.
Sikh elder Baba Gurpal Singh said:
The police cooperate with us on paper and attend our religious events, but despite this, my community is the target of ever-increasing street crimes.
Adding that two motorcycles were stolen from Moti Mohalla, which has not been traced out yet, he stated:
Recently armed robbers snatched mobile phones at gunpoint from our guest Raqbir Singh, who came from Rawalpindi for worship in January. Despite the passage of three months, no robbers have been arrested.
According to the Sikh community, another mobile snatching case happened near Chacha Younis Park in Hashtnagri six months ago. However, it is still in the cold storage at the police station. A local Sikh trader Gurwinder Singh said:
Business is already not good due to Covid-19. Now mobile and cash snatching at gunpoint are adding insult to our injuries.
Baba Gurpal Singh concluded by saying:
Initially, the police were reluctant to register the FIR, and we had to approach the SSP operations to register a complaint properly. Now we are reluctant to go to the police stations and even lodge an FIR as the police make no progress for (the looted items’) recovery.
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