February 2010 Sikh beheadings by Taliban
Encyclopedia
Three Sikh
men were said to have been beheaded
by Taliban groups in the FATA
area of Pakistan
and their heads sent to a gurudwara in Peshawar
. One of the Sikhs has been identified as Jaspal Singh. He and his two friends were residents of Badi near Peshawar.
A PTI report from Pakistan quoted sources as saying there was confusion on the exact numbers, that two men had been beheaded and others were being held hostage. It said the body of Jaspal Singh was found in Khyber
while that of Mahal Singh was found in Orakzai Agency. Gurvinder Singh and Gurjit Singh, the sources said, were among those being held captive.
The men had gone to the FATA area for some work but were held by Taliban groups who apparently asked them to convert to Islam. Apparently it seems that the men resisted the conversion and were hence beheaded.
It is a well-known fact that dominant faction charges jaziya (religious tax as laid by Koranic orders upon non-Muslims) from the community of 10,000 Sikhs in the area who remained behind after the 1947 Partition of India
, but the victims, who were said to had been kidnapped, were killed after their relatives failed to pay Rs 30 million as the Taliban had demanded.
It is feared that sad incident will adversely affect the upcoming Indo-Pak talks on 25 February.
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
men were said to have been beheaded
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
by Taliban groups in the FATA
Fata
The FATA or FC-ATA is a type of computer hard disk drive. FATA is simply the low cost ATA or SATA disk drive equipped with a small external converter, that changes the interface to Fibre Channel...
area of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and their heads sent to a gurudwara in Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
. One of the Sikhs has been identified as Jaspal Singh. He and his two friends were residents of Badi near Peshawar.
A PTI report from Pakistan quoted sources as saying there was confusion on the exact numbers, that two men had been beheaded and others were being held hostage. It said the body of Jaspal Singh was found in Khyber
Khyber agency
Khyber is a tribal area in the FATA region of Pakistan. It is one of the eight tribal areas, better known as agencies in Pakistan. It ranges from the Tirah valley down to Peshawar...
while that of Mahal Singh was found in Orakzai Agency. Gurvinder Singh and Gurjit Singh, the sources said, were among those being held captive.
The men had gone to the FATA area for some work but were held by Taliban groups who apparently asked them to convert to Islam. Apparently it seems that the men resisted the conversion and were hence beheaded.
It is a well-known fact that dominant faction charges jaziya (religious tax as laid by Koranic orders upon non-Muslims) from the community of 10,000 Sikhs in the area who remained behind after the 1947 Partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
, but the victims, who were said to had been kidnapped, were killed after their relatives failed to pay Rs 30 million as the Taliban had demanded.
It is feared that sad incident will adversely affect the upcoming Indo-Pak talks on 25 February.