Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday condemned the "beheading of a kidnapped Sikh" in Pakistan’s tribal belt and directed authorities to take "stern action" against the abductors and to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
An official statement said the President had "denounced the beheading of a kidnapped Sikh in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency after his relatives reportedly failed to pay ransom money to the abductors".
While strongly condemning the incident, Zardari asked authorities to "investigate and take stern action against the kidnappers in accordance with the law".
He also said effective measures should be taken to "stop the recurrence of such incidents in the future".
Officials have said the beheaded body of a Sikh named Jaspal Singh was found in the Khyber Agency yesterday. The official statement acknowledged that "two other Sikhs are still in captivity".
However, sources have said that the bodies of two Sikhs were recovered in the tribal belt, one in Khyber Agency and another in Aurakzai Agency. They were both killed by the Taliban after their families failed to pay the ransom of Rs 30 million demanded by the militants, the sources said.
President Zardari also condemned the kidnapping of a Hindu man named Robin Singh from Peshawar on Friday. Singh was abducted by unknown persons from a market on University Road in the provincial capital in broad day light, the statement said.
Zardari asked authorities to take steps for the recovery of Singh.
The kidnapping and killing of the Sikhs has also been condemned by leaders of Pakistan’s minority Sikh community.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 22, 2010, 21:07