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Religious scholar and head of Karachi’s Jamia Farooqia seminary Maulana Dr Adil Khan, who was shot dead along with his driver in a suspected targeted attack a day earlier, was laid to rest on Sunday.
A large number of people, including religious scholars, politicians and students of the seminary, attended the funeral prayers that were led by the deceased scholar’s brother Maulana Ubaidullah Khan at Jamia Farooqia phase two.
Strict security arrangements were made for the prayers, which were also attended by several prominent figures, including Senator Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, Mufti Taqi Usmani, Maulana Rafi Usmani, Maulana Mohammad Hanif Jalandhari and Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro.
Maulana Adil was buried next to his father, prominent scholar Maulana Saleemullah Khan, who founded the Jamia Farooqia, located in Shah Faisal Colony.
Meanwhile, Sindh Assembly member Maulana Umar Sadiq urged people to remain calm and maintain unity.
“We will defeat plots [aiming to create] sectarianism,” he said, terming Maulana Adil’s death a “huge loss”.
According to a police statement, pillion riders opened indiscriminate fire on Maulana Adil’s car on Saturday evening as it stopped near a shopping centre in Shah Faisal Colony to purchase sweets.
Maulana Adil’s aide Umair, who had left the vehicle to purchase sweets from the shop, remained unhurt.
Dr Adil was shifted to the Liaquat National Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival, according to hospital spokesperson Anjum Rizvi.
His driver, Maqsood Ahmed, was also declared dead on arrival at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), said Dr Seemin Jamali, the hospital’s executive director.
Ahmed was also laid to rest on Sunday.
Maulana Adil had done PhD in religious studies and had taught in Malaysia also before returning to Karachi a few years ago after the death of his father Maulana Saleemullah, who had remained a student of Darul Uloom Deoband in India.
‘Indian design to destabilise Pakistan’
Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a tweet late Saturday, termed Maulana Adil’s targeted killing “condemnable”, saying for the last three months, his government had been aware of “India’s attempts to target kill [scholars] from Sunni and Shia sects to create sectarian conflict across the country”.
“We have prevented a number of such attempts preemptively in [the] last few months. Our intelligence organisations and law enforcement agencies will nab culprits of this murder also,” the premier said.
He called upon the ulema belonging to all sects to “ensure people do not fall prey to this nefarious Indian design to destabilise Pakistan”.
Expressing grief on the assassination, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa “strongly condemned” the incident and said it was an attempt “by Pakistan’s enemies to foment unrest”.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of and condemned the incident, saying some miscreants wanted to “sabotage the peace in the city”.
Sindh Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar sought a detailed report from the Korangi senior superintendent of police.
Counter-Terrorism Department Deputy Inspector General Omar Shahid Hamid said police were focusing on two possible motives behind the incident.
He said in addition to the obvious sectarian aspect of the gun attack, they were ascertaining as to whether a third party wanted to create sectarian conflict. He pointed out that “certain incidents” that recently took place had triggered fears about sectarianism in the city.