Staff reveals two men visited Maulana Sami before his assassination

RAWALPINDI: Maulana Samiul Haq’s two domestic staff members, who were taken into custody earlier on Saturday, told police that two men visited the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S) chief before his assassination.

Maulana Samiul Haq, an influential religious scholar and former senator, was stabbed to death while he was resting in his room at his residence in Rawlpindi on Friday. His son, Maulana Hamidul Haq, had said that the JUI-S chief's "driver-cum-guard went out for 15 minutes” and returned to find him dead.

In their initial statement to the police, the domestic staff members said, “The two men had visited Maulana Samiual Haq on several occasions before as well and wanted to meet him alone.”

"The JUI-S chief sent us to the market to bring food and drinks," they further said.

“When we returned after 15 minutes, we found Maulana Samiual Haq lying in a pool of blood,” the staff workers added.

The two staff members were taken into custody earlier today for questioning.

A probe into the JUI-S chief's assassination is under way and investigation officers have carried out fingerprint scans of the phone, glasses and other items belonging to the religious scholar. His phone records have also been obtained.

Further, CCTV footage of the housing society where the JUI-S chief resided is being obtained to identify the suspects.

FIR lodged

A first investigation report (FIR) of Haq’s assassination was registered earlier today.

The FIR was filed on the complaint of the religious scholar’s son, Maulana Hamidul Haq, against unknown persons in the Airport Police Station.

As per the FIR, Maulana Samiul Haq was attacked at 6:30pm and was stabbed 12 times in his stomach, chest, forehead and ear.

Maulana Hamidul Haq further said that they did not wish to get the JUI-S chief’s post-mortem conducted.

Who was Maulana Samiul Haq?

Born in 1936, Haq was one of the senior-most religio-political figures in Pakistan and came from the spiritual family of Akora Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was the son of late Maulana Abdul Haq, a respected religious scholar and founder of the Darul Uloom Haqqania, one of the largest and most influential madrassas (seminaries) in the country. Maulana Samiul Haq later served the head of the Darul Uloom Haqqania after his father's death.

He was twice elected as member of the Senate of Pakistan—from 1985 to 1991 and again from 1991 to 1997.

According to the Senate website, Haq was an active protagonist of the Tahreek-i-Khatam-e-Nabowat in 1974 and Tahreek-i-Nizam-i-Mustafa in 1977.

"He was a member of the Majlis-i-Shoora in 1983-85 and was a member of the Presidential Committee on religious matters. He was elected to the Senate in 1985 and was one of the principal movers of the historic Shariat Bill in the Senate. He [was] re-elected as Senator in 1991 for another six-year term," reads the Senate website.

In 2014, the JUI-S chief headed a committee formed for peace talks with the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The talks, despite repeated rounds, failed to yield results and the then Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government subsequently launched a crackdown on militants following terrorist attacks on Karachi's Jinnah International Airport and then the Army Public School in Peshawar later that year.

His party has been an ally of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The PTI also gave him ticket for the 2018 Senate election, but he could not be elected to the upper house.