Hindu kidnapped and beheaded in Jihadistan

KARACHI: A Hindu businessman has been kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan’s Sindh province, and police suspect the killing could be part of a campaign by the banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant group to target Hindus in the region.

Police in Kotri town, near Sindh’s Hyderabad city, found the body of Garesh Kumar in a Islamic religious school on Wednesday and arrested Khadim Hussain and his son Tahir, who they suspect of working for the HuM which is active in Jammu and Kashmir.

Kumar was kidnapped six months ago from his home in Hyderabad by unknown persons, police said.

“We found his body after intense investigations. The killers beheaded him and then burnt him before burying him,” senior police official Mustafa Korai said. Police are investigating claims made by the arrested men that they were inspired by a member of the HuM to kidnap and kill Hindus, Korai said.

“We are trying to find out if they are any more such cases. But until now we are going by statements made by the arrested men. We are also hunting for the main accused who brainwashed them,” he said.

A majority of the over two million Pakistani Hindus live in Sindh and many of them are involved in trade. Police said Kumar was the son of a well-known trader.

“At first we though he was kidnapped for ransom but no demands were made on his family after the kidnapping last August and we got suspicious of other motives behind the crime,” the official said.