Former Pakistan senator and Jamiat Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S) chief Maulana Samiul Haq was stabbed to death at his residence in Rawalpindi on Friday. He was known as 'Father of Taliban' for his radical views and patronage to terror groups, including Taliban.
ARY TV quoted JUI-S chief's son Maulana Hamid ul Haq as saying that Samiul Haq was ill and was taking rest at home when he was attacked.
More details into the incident are awaited.
Maulana Samiul Haq was elected as a Senator in 1985 before holding the post again in 1991.
His death has come at a time when Pakistan is already going through a volatile religio-political crisis over Supreme Court acquittig Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, in a blasphemy case.
More recently Haq was aligned with Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and sought to work closely with him.
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Few days ago, a high-level delegation from Afghanistan had met him at his seminary, Darul Uloom Haqqania in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and urged him to mediate between different groups of Taliban as they considered him as a father figure.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is on his maiden visit to China.