Thaindian News

Islamabad, Feb 7 (IANS) A Hindu trader was shot dead when he resisted a kidnap bid in Pakistan’s Quetta city, police said.Ramesh Kumar was gunned down when he was going to his general store in Kandahari Bazaar Sunday.

Armed men in a car intercepted him and attempted to abduct him at gunpoint. When he resisted, the kidnappers shot him dead, Daily Times reported.

The assailants then fled.

“The victim received two bullets in his head which caused his death,” hospital sources were quoted as saying.

A senior police officer said it could be a kidnapping case.

As many as three Hindu traders have been killed so far during attempted kidnappings in and around Quetta during the past three years.

Incidents of kidnapping for ransom of Hindus in Pakistan have seen an alarming rise during the last few months, forcing many families to abandon their homes and shift to India or other countries.

Ram Singh Sodho, who was elected to the Sindh assembly in 2008 on a Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) reserved seat for minorities, fled to India and sent in his resignation to the assembly speaker, Nisar Ahmad Khoro.

Lakki Chand Garji, 82, who is the ‘maharaja’ of the Kali Mata Mandir in Kalat town in Balochistan province and considered to be one of Pakistan’s most revered Hindu spiritual leaders, was kidnapped by a gang of armed men Dec 21 last year. He is yet to be rescued.