BAJAUR: A large number of people on Wednesday attended the funeral prayers of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leader Mufti Bashir Ahmad, who was shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists in his native Mamond tehsil here on Tuesday evening.

Mufti Ahmad, 50, a former party contender for the National Assembly in 2008 general elections, was on way home in Sewai area when two unidentified motorcyclists opened fire on him near Thani village, the police and party sources told Dawn.

They said the JUI-F leader was critically wounded in the attack, and died shortly after being brought to the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar.

The motive behind the killing couldn’t be ascertained instantly.

Family members, villagers and party sources said he had no personal enmity with anyone in the region.

A police official told Dawn that they had launched an investigation into the incident. However, he said no arrest was made as yet.

The funeral prayers were attended by people from different walks of life, JUI-F workers and leaders from neighbouring Momand, Lower and Upper Dir districts.

Speaking on this occasion, JUI-F Bajaur chief Maulana Abdur Rasheed and others condemned the murder and termed it an act of target killing.

They claimed before Mufti Ahmad, the party had lost four senior leaders, including Mufti Sultan Mohammad, Qari Ilyas, Maulana Abdul Salam Haqqani and Mufti Shafiullah, in attacks since October 2019.

However, they regretted that the police had yet to arrest any culprit, which had caused a sense of insecurity among the party workers.

They demanded of the authorities to arrest the killers of Mufti Bashir and other party leaders with immediate effect. They said the party would also observe a black day across the district on Thursday (today) to condemn the killing.

MOTORCYCLISTS ARRESTED: The police arrested a number of underage motorcyclists during a crackdown the other day.

The action was launched on the directives of district police officer Abdul Samad Khan in view of frequent fatal road accidents involving underage drivers, according to a statement.

The statement said the arrested motorcyclists were shifted to relevant police stations for legal action, and were later released after their parents and guardians paid the fines imposed on them.

The statement said the district police officer requested parents not to allow their children to ride motorcycles without licences and wearing helmets.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022