IN the midst of countrywide protests called by leaders of various religious parties, Maulana Samiul Haq, one of the pre-eminent figures in Pakistan’s religio-political landscape, was stabbed to death on Friday at his house in Rawalpindi.

From the facts that have emerged thus far, it appears that a 10-minute window afforded by the absence of the maulana’s attendant from the scene was used to carry out the crime.

An investigation is yet to determine the motive for the attack, whether it was on account of personal enmity or driven by larger political objectives.

It may also reveal whether the killing coincidentally happened to occur during a period of domestic turmoil, or whether it was designed to take advantage of the charged situation on the streets, perhaps even exacerbate it.

Chief of his own faction of the JUI, the maulana was a vital cog in Pak-Afghan politics since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, even though his influence may have been somewhat on the wane.

His madressah in KP, Darul Aloom Haqqania, is known as ‘jihad university’ for its role in churning out thousands of jihadis to fight the invading forces — first the Russians, then the US — and counts many well-known militants including Mullah Omar and Jalaluddin Haqqani among its alumni.

The ‘father of the Taliban’ was often among the intermediaries in efforts to engage the insurgent group in peace talks, and was recently approached in that context only a month ago.

In fact, even former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sought the maulana’s help to intercede with the Afghan Taliban when they had kidnapped Mr Gilani’s son.

More recently, he had given public support to the PTI’s anti-polio vaccination campaign in KP — a creditable stance given that polio vaccinators were considered legitimate targets by violent extremist outfits at the time.

However, his hard-line views — he was among those chosen by the TTP to represent them at the short-lived talks with the Pakistan government — made him a controversial and polarising figure to the end.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2018