A thorough investigation is required
On the eve of the PTI government negotiating a questionable peace deal with religious zealots who had rampaged throughout the country for three days JUI-S chief Maulana Sami ul Haq was brutally murdered while resting in his bed at his residence in Rawalpindi. The attack stands out among other political assassinations given how the perpetratorwas able to get so close to Sami, stab him twelve times and flees the scene undetected. A significant amount of rage, anger and hate has to possess someone to use a knife as a weapon to kill someone in such a gruesome manner indicating some personal enmity. The yet unknown assailant(s) would also have to be quite confident that Sami would be alone for long enough to carry out the attack which suggests information was leaked from within the Maulana’s entourage. With only his personal secretary and guard present security was seriously inadequate. It is the government’s duty to provide protection to high profile politicians and party heads. The Punjab government has to carry out a thorough investigation of the incident to identify and bring the murderers to justice.
Sami wielded a great deal of influence both in local political circles and across the border with the Afghan Taliban. Known famously as ‘Father of Taliban’ Sami was considered as someone who could effectively negotiate with the Afghan Taliban on Pakistan’s behalf. His party the JUI-S has remained the PTI’s key political ally to counter the JUI-F’s Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman in both the 2013 and 2018 general elections. He supported Imran Khan in KP for the anti-polio drive while his Madrassah Darul Uloom Haqqania — famous for producing graduates that became prominent Taliban leaders — received a grant of Rs227 million for ‘Madrassah reform’ from the PTI recently. Politically speaking it is a major blow to the PTI as Fazl-Ur-Rehman will now make every attempt to occupy the vacuum left after Sami’s unexpected death.
