Sikh Shopkeeper Shot Dead in Srinagar

A non-local Sikh was killed while another was grievously injured (later died in hospital) when unidentified gunmen fired upon them in the old city area of Srinagar on 7 Feb. Gunmen shot Amritpal Singh resident of Amritsar, and Rohit, son of Prem Masih, at Shaheed Gunj in Srinagar. Amritpal succumbed to the injuries, and Rohit sustained a bullet injury in the abdomen. Amritpal and Rohit were woodworkers. The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks. In Oct 2021, TRF had owned the killing of a Sikh lady school principal Supreet Kaur. At that time there was a massive protest over Kaur’s killing, likely because she was a local Sikh. In both cases, TRF has not given any reason for targeting the Sikhs. In August 2023, Gurmeet Singh (Sethi Veer Ji) was reported missing from the Kanth Bagh area of Baramulla district. Gurmeet was an engineer in the Public Works department, Baramulla. A few days later his body was retrieved from the Jhelum River after four days. That death was never investigated. A twist to the story of Amritpal’s killing is that his family initially claimed there were no bullet wounds on his body. They refused to cremate him. However, later the police prevailed and he was cremated. On 13 Feb, police arrested Adil Manzoor Langoo, one of the gunmen involved in the shooting. The situation of Sikhs remains precarious in the Kashmir valley.