Prominent cleric shot dead in Pakistan's Karachi

Maulana Dr Adil Khan, head of Karachi's Jamia Farooqia seminary, was attacked in a market on Saturday evening, they said. According to a senior police official, as the car carrying Khan stopped near a shopping centre in Shah Faisal Colony to purchase sweets, armed pillion riders opened indiscriminate fire on the car and fled.

A prominent Pakistani Sunni Muslim cleric was shot dead along with his driver by unidentified assailants in Karachi, police said on Sunday. Maulana Dr Adil Khan, head of Karachi's Jamia Farooqia seminary, was attacked in a market on Saturday evening, they said.

According to a senior police official, as the car carrying Khan stopped near a shopping centre in Shah Faisal Colony to purchase sweets, armed pillion riders opened indiscriminate fire on the car and fled. The police official said it appeared to be a targeted attack.

Khan was the son of late prominent scholar Maulana Saleemullah Khan, who founded the Jamia Farooqia, a seminary located in Shah Faisal Colony. Jamia Farooqia adheres to the Sunni Muslim teachings of the Deobandi sect.

The seminary spokesperson, Amjad Rizvi, said that the Maulana expired in hospital from multiple bullet wounds while his driver, Maqsood Ahmed, died on the spot. Khan was shifted to the Liaquat National Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His driver was also declared dead on arrival at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), the hospital's executive director Dr Seemin Jamali said.

A third person, Umair, who was accompanying the scholar, survived the incident as he had gone inside the shopping centre to buy sweets. "We are gathering statements from eye-witnesses," Police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said.

On Sunday, the funeral prayers of the religious scholar were offered by his brother Maulana Obaidullah Khalid. The deceased was buried in the vicinity of his father's grave in Jamia Farooqia. According to Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in-charge Raja Umar Khitab, the attack is "a conspiracy to incite sectarian violence".

President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly condemned the assassination of Maulana Khan. Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa also condemned the assassination of Khan, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the army.