2 more killed as attacks against Indians continue

MANILA, Philippines — Two more victims have been killed in the latest attack on Indian expatriates in the country, police reports said on Saturday. The latest victims were killed in an alleged robbery case in the northern town of Bolinao in Pangasinan province on Friday. A third Indian was reported injured. Senior Inspector Rizaldy Dalope, Bolinao police chief, identified the fatalities as Jalinder Singh, 34, and Aijit Sohal, 19, both residents of Braganza Village in the nearby city of Alaminos. The injured victim was identified as Malkinder Singh, 35, who is now confined at the Alaminos City Doctors Hospital. The attack came a few days after leaders of the Filipino-Indian Chamber of Commerce (FICC) urged police and government agencies concerned to address the killings. Naresh Mansukhani, a director of FICC, expressed alarm during the NewsStand media forum at the Ambassador Hotel over the week that the situation was getting out of hand, sowing fear and terror among Indians residing in the Philippines. FICC has listed at least 140 Indians killed in attacks across the country in the past two years. Families of many victims themselves suspect that a syndicate of Indian gangsters and local cohorts are behind the attacks. Mansukhani said it was not only the killings that has alarmed them but the spate of kidnappings, which in some cases the victims were killed despite the kidnappers being paid huge amounts of ransom. "There was one incident where a teenage boy was beheaded despite the family paying the ransom to his abductors," he said. One of the latest victims of the Indian-targeted killings was Janet Tabieros Singh, who was gunned down by two unidentified motorcycle-riding men in Manila recently. The victim’s husband, Surjit Singh, claimed he was the target of the assailants and not his wife, because he had been involved in the efforts to help solve crimes against Indians in the country. Singh claimed he has been receiving death threats almost every day. The National Bureau of Investigation - Special Action Unit (SAU) has been assigned to investigate the case. Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal, deputy director of the national police’s Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, pointed out that the Indian community should coordinate closely with authorities not only to put a stop to the violence but to also arrest those behind these crimes. Mansukhani admitted that most of the kidnappings had not been reported to the authorities. The Bureau of Immigration, meanwhile, promised to continuously monitor the entry of foreign nationals, including Indians, who may be involved in any illegal or criminal activities. - GMANews.TV