Timeline of fatal attacks on religious scholars in Pakistan
KARACHI: The assassination of Maulana Adil Khan of Jamia Farooqia in a targetted attack in Karachi’s Shah Faisal area has triggered an outrage across Pakistan and religious leaders have gathered together to announce a countrywide strike on Oct 16.
Here’s a timeline of attacks on well-known religious scholars in Pakistan, starting with the recent one:
On October 10, 2020, head of Jamia Farooqia seminary Maulana Dr Adil Khan, was gunned down in Karachi.
On November 2, 2018, Jamiat Ulema e Islam-S head and former senator Maulana Sami-ul-Haq was assassinated at his Rawalpindi residence.
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On August 19, 2017, JUI-F leader and “spiritual teacher” of Maulana Fazl ur Rehman, Maulana Syed Ataullah Shah was shot dead in Dera Ismail Khan.
On February 27, 2014, Allama Taqi Hadi Naqvi was killed in Karachi’s Nazimabad area.
On December 6, 2013, Maulana Shams-ur-Rehman, an Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat leader, was killed in firing on Lahore’s Ravi Road.
On November 6, 2012, Agha Aftab Haider Jaffari, a prominent Shitte leader, was gunned down in Quetta.
On August 16, 2009, Allama Ali Sher Hyderi, chief patron of the Ahl-i-Sunnat Wal Jamaat Pakistan, was shot dead along his driver in Khairpur.
On June 12, 2009, a suicide bomber killed anti-Taliban Sunni Barelvi cleric Allama Dr Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi in a suicide attack in Lahore.
On February 19, 2009, Shiite leader Sher Zaman was killed in Dera Ismail Khan.
On September 15, 2007, former MNA Maulana Hassan Jan, a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader, was assassinated in Peshawar. Hassan Jan had issued a decree against suicide attacks.
In April 2006, many Sunni scholars lost their lives at Karachi’s Nishtar Park.
On May 30, 2004, a senior Deobandi religious scholar and head of Jamia Binoria seminary, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, was shot dead while he was travelling in his car in Karachi.
