PESHAWAR, Sept 15: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a prominent religious scholar in a busy Peshawar area on Saturday. Maulana Hassan Jan, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl group) and vice-president of the Wafaqul Madaris, was going in a car with three other men to Peshawar’s Wazirbagh area. When the car reached a deserted spot, the unknown assailants sprayed it with a volley of bullets.

The shooting happened during Iftar time.

Maulana Jan was 69. He is survived by four sons and a daughter.

Maulana Jan’s Friday’s sermons used to attract a large number of worshippers to his mosque. He was a vice-president of the Wafaqul Madaris.

Witnesses said they had seen two men escaping in a car after firing at him. They added that they rushed to the spot and saw Maulana Hassan Jan lying in a pool of blood. The incident occurred near Yakatoot police station.

Eyewitnesses said Maulana Jan was rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital, but was immediately pronounced dead.

A large number of mourners and workers of the JUI (F) reached the hospital and took his body to Madrassa Imdadul Uloom, in Cantonment area. He had been a teacher at the madressah.

“It is an act of terrorism aimed at creating unrest,” said Mohammad Tahir Khan, a senior police official.

Preliminary investigation revealed, Tahir Khan said, the maulana had gone to Wazirbagh to keep an appointment.

“We have got some leads and are working on them. Right now we have not taken anyone in custody,” Mr Tahir told Dawn. He added the police believed the killers were known to Maulana Hassan Jan.

Some party workers said some unknown persons had invited the maulana to perform a Nikah.

Maulana Hassan shot to political prominence in 1990 after defeating the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan of the Awami National Party in a National Assembly election for Charsadda, prompting the latter to announce retirement and end a career spanning 50 years.

He was born in Prang village, Charsadda district, in 1938. He served as Khateeb of Masjid Darwaish, in Peshawar’s Cantonment area.

Enraged students at the at Darwaish Masjid where his body was kept for visitors, criticized the police for their inability to reach the spot and arrest the killers. They said that Maulana had gone with some people to perform a Nikka ceremony in Wazirbagh locality.

Outraged madressah students took to the streets after the killing and took out processions. On a number of occasions, he had condemned suicide bombings as anti-Islamic, his followers recalled. Security officials said it would be premature to attribute sectarian motives to the murder.

Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan condemned the killing, terming it an example of “the terrorism that has rocked the country”.