Struggling for months with falling business returns due to the raging COVID-19, the Sikh community in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province is now battling law and order issues, with snatching and extortion calls adding to their travails.

A local Sikh trader, who owns a cosmetics shop at the Karkhano Market in a suburb on the western side of provincial capital Peshawar,  recently received a telephone call with the caller asking him to pay ‘charity money’ to the militants, a Tribune report said.

Two extortion calls came to the businessman in a short span of two days, with the criminals threatening him with dire consequences if he failed to cough up the money.

A complaint was lodged with the Hayatabad police station, which has opened an inquiry in the case.

“Police had been informed in January about the calls,” the report said, quoting a member of the Sikh community.

Apart from extortion, the Sikh community living inside the old walled city in Mohallah Jogan Shah is not happy with the attitude of the local police.

A Sikh elder Baba Gurpal Singh told The Express Tribune that police cooperate with them on paper and even attend their religious events, but sill the community continues to be the victim of lawbreakers.

“Recently armed robbers snatched mobile phones at gunpoint from our guest Raqbir Singh, who came from Rawalpindi for worship in January.”

“Despite the passage of three months, no robbers have been arrested,” he said.

“Now we are reluctant to go to the police stations and even lodge an FIR as no progress is made by the police for (the looted items’) recovery,” he said.

A local Sikh trader Gurwinder Singh said businesses were not good due to COVID-19 and mobile and cash snatching at gunpoint were compounding their problems. 

K-P province is ruled by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's PTI party.