PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa (KP) Police have issued a security alert to Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and asked him to restrict his movement and avoid unnecessary engagements.

A letter issued by the District Police Officer (DPO) a couple of days ago said “hostile intelligence agencies” had planned to target the Maulana. The police advised the JUI-F chief to keep all his functions, plans, programmes and movements secret.

“I feel my great responsibility to intimate you (Maulana Fazl) for adoption of precautionary measures due to recent threat from terrorists,” the DPO told the JUI-F leader in the letter.

Maulana Fazl had survived three attempts on his life, including a suicide attack, in KP and Balochistan. He narrowly escaped in a suicide attack in Quetta in 2014. The suicide bomber had targeted his bullet-proof vehicle but Maulana Fazl remained unhurt.

The police also asked the JUI-F leader to make sure presence of security personnel in the limits of his residence in the Abdul Khel area round the clock. The Maulana should also make maximum use of all resources, the letter said.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, JUI-F’s provincial spokesman Maulana Abdul Jalil Jan said the government would be responsible if Maulana Sahab was harmed. He said the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf government was issuing threat alerts to Maulana Fazl to create fear and stop him from campaigning against the ruling party.

He said the Maulana would continue his engagements and it was responsibility of the government to provide full security to him. He said the JUI-F chief would come to Peshawar on Monday to address a conference on the current situation in the merged tribal districts.

Jalil Jan criticised the KP government for reducing security of Maulana Fazl and other senior JUI-F leaders. “The government on one hand issues threat alert but on the other hand reduces Maulana’s security,” he said.

He said despite security threats to Maulana Fazl the provincial government had provided only three police constables to him. Initially, three special police squads were detailed for the JUI-F chief’s security, he added.

The KP government spokesperson and senior police officers in Dera Ismail Kahn were not available for comment on the issue.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2020