Beheadings downplayed as India-Pakistan talks falter

If the beheadings of two Sikhs by Taliban militants in Pakistan were discussed at a meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan neither side opted to highlight the matter in press briefings in the immediate aftermath of the talks.

When Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir met in New Delhi on February 25 India had already protested to Pakistan about the barbaric acts – and heard Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi say that his government condemned the Taliban for their actions.

Pakistan President also voiced his disapproval.

Political commentators viewed the talks – the first since the Mumbai attacks of 2008 in which 166 people died – as unfruitful although the two sides have agreed to remain in touch.

India wanted to focus on Pakistani efforts to combat Islamist militants who attack India and it would not agree to a resumption of a wide-ranging “composite dialogue” that included the long-running dispute over the Kashmir region. Detailed discussion of the decapitations would not have been seen as helpful to the slim hopes of a breakthrough.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi is said to have described the Taliban killers as inhuman, making “no distinction between individuals, ethnicities or religions”. He said his government would take all measures necessary to ensure the safety and security of his country’s minority Sikh community.

The body of Jaspal Singh was found in the Tirah Valley, Khyber Agency, in Pakistan’s turbulent tribal region. He was kidnapped along with two other Sikhs – thought to still be alive – near the provincial capital Peshawar.

Another Sikh, Mahal Singh, had allegedly been beheaded in the Orkazai Agency. Reports said the murdered men’s heads had been sent to a Sikh temple in Peshawar.

Sikh organisations involved in the region have called on the Taliban to release the other men in captivity – named as Gurvinder Singh and Gurjit Singh.

There are reports that the dead men were held after they told the Taliban they could not afford to pay an extortionate tax levied on Hindu and Sikh traders in the name of jazia, an Islamic tax.

A demand for Rs 3 crore in ransom followed. The men may have been beheaded when the deadline for payment expired.

The Sikh Sangat has urged the Punjab Government to provide a special economic package for the rehabilitation of Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan, so that they can live their lives free from such fear in future.

Nearly all Pakistan’s 20,000 Sikhs live in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and tribal areas. About 600 families live in Peshawar.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the beheading of Jaspal Singh in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan after “relatives reportedly failed to pay ransom money to the abductors”.

He ordered authorities to apprehend the culprits to prevent its recurrence and “take stern action against the kidnappers in accordance with the law”.