LAKKI MARWAT: Killing of a religious scholar affiliated with Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl triggered a protest as relatives and local residents placed the body on the main highway and closed it for vehicular traffic on Saturday.

The police said that Mohammad Raza Halimi was shot dead by unknown assailants in Gandi Khankhel area late Friday night.

The deceased was an administrator of Jamia Shamsul Uloom located at Gandi Chowk near Serai Naurang town of Lakki Marwat district.

He was also a member of the district Shura of JUI-F.

The police said that the deceased was targeted by unidentified armed men when he was going to the seminary after offering night prayers in the village’s mosque.

They said that Maulana Raza received bullet injuries and died instantly.

Complainant Maulana Mohammad Ayub, brother of the slain religious leader, told the police that he received information about the murder incident, reached the venue and found the body of his brother killed with a firearm.

He said that his family had no enmity with anyone.

The news of the murder of Maulana Raza spread like a jungle fire in the locality as people from Gandi Khankhel and Mirazam Michenkhel areas and JUI-F activists took the body to the busy Peshawar-Karachi Highway and held a demonstration there.

The flow of traffic on the main artery also connecting Bannu with DI Khan and Mianwali remained suspended for nearly two hours.

Former MNA Nasir Mohammad Khan Maidadkhel, Maulana Gul Badshah, Mashal Khan, Mufti Ziaullah, Maulana Bashir Haqqani, Pir Fawad Zakori, Malik Riaz, Maulana Maqbool Rehman and others denounced the murder of religious scholar and demanded arrest of his killers.

They set a 72 hours deadline for the arrest of the killers and warned of launching agitation if local police failed to trace and capture the murderers.

Later, the protesters dispersed when their representatives held successful talks with the government officials.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2024