GUJRAT: Religious scholar Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza, who survived yet another attempt on his life, says he has not been provided with security despite requests to the Jhelum police.

Narrating the recent attack, Mr Mirza, who has a huge following online, told Dawn that he delivered weekly lectures after Zuhr prayers on Sundays in his academy where each participant had to pass through a security check.

He said the attacker had managed his entry at around 8am when the academy gate was opened and hid the sharp-edged weapon. He kept on waiting for the lecture to finish at around 3:30pm when the participants usually had photo sessions with the scholar.

“But a participant from Sialkot breached the queue to be photographed to leave a bit earlier and just then the suspect’s blade hit the hand of the Sialkot man who raised some alarm. At this, the suspect rushed towards me to hit me but security men saved me. The attacker again rushed towards me for the second time and the blade hit me on the shoulder,” Mirza said. He was discharged from a local hospital the same day.

He said he had survived a murder attempt in 2017 and sustained multiple wounds on his body. The attacker in that incident was also a Lahore-based man; however, Mirza had pardoned him since he was misled by some religious leaders.

After the attack in 2017, he said, police had deployed two cops for his security, which were later withdrawn. He had then arranged his private security.

Sources in police said a ‘Mufti’ had instigated the accused to attack Mirza.

Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza does not follow any particular sect and he points out, in almost all sects of Islam, ‘contradictions’ with basics of the religion with reference to books of Ahadith and the Quran. He is a qualified engineer and is stated to be in government service. He does not take any funds from individuals or organisations.

Jhelum DPO Shakir Hussain Dawar says security had not been provided to Mr Mirza because the district intelligence committee had recommended his name to be included in the Fourth Schedule for his `controversial’ statements.

He said the police had recommended the authorities concerned to shut down the academy of Mr Mirza. Fourth Schedule is the list of proscribed individuals suspected of terrorism or sectarianism who are kept under observation.

Jhelum police had arrested Mirza and booked him on charges of uttering remarks against some religious scholars in May 2020 and he was released by court on bail a day later after his arrest.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2021