ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and a Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) leader Mufti Abdul Sha­koor died in a road accident in the capital’s Red Zone area on Saturday evening.

According to the police, the minister, 55, was heading towards Secretariat Chowk on Constitution Avenue when his car was hit by a Hilux vehicle with five passengers on board.

The minister was immediately shifted to the Polyclinic Hospital in a critical condition, but he couldn’t be resuscitated. Inspector General of Poli­­ce with other senior officers reached the scene of accident and the hospital soon after receiving the information.

The police said all the five occupants of the other vehicle were arrested and shifted to a nearby police station for investigation. It is still unclear if the minister was alone in the vehicle or there were some other people with him as well. A police source, however, said the minister was driving the car.

Sources in the hospital said the minister suffered a serious head injury, lea­ding to his death. They said the body of the deceased had been handed over to the family after a post-mortem.

His funeral will be held at 2pm on Sunday in Tajbi Khel area of Lakki Marwat, according to a tweet on JUI-F’s official account.

He was a vocal JUI-F leader and known for his fiery speeches against his political rivals, especially PTI. He had won the National Assembly seat of NA-51 in the 2018 general elections from the platform of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal. He hailed from Lakki Marwat.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ext­ended his condolences to the family of the deceased and prayed for him, terming him a “dynamic and ideological leader” of the JUI-F and a good person.

Separately, the PM tweeted he was deeply saddened to hear about the “sudden death of my friend, colleague and an important member of the cabinet, Mufti Abdul Shakoor.” He remembered him as a “practising scholar, an ideological political activist and a pious person”.

President Dr Arif Alvi, Foreign Min­ister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, National Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Ashraf and several other political figures also condoled over the sad demise of the minister. PTI leaders Fawad Chaudhry and Faisal Javed also extended their condolences and prayed for the departed soul.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2023