Maulana Samiul Haq dead: Thousands of mourners in Pakistan participate in funeral prayers of pro-Taliban cleric

Islamabad: Thousands of mourners on Saturday participated in the funeral prayers of Pakistan’s top pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Samiul Haq at his native Akora Khattak town in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Haq, the 82-year-old cleric who was also known as the ‘godfather of Taliban’, was stabbed to death by unidentified attackers at his residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday. According to an FIR lodged at a police station in Rawalpindi, the octogenarian leader was stabbed 12 times in stomach, chest, forehead and ears. [caption id=“attachment_5499121” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Samiul Haq. Reuters[/caption] Prayers for the slain leader were offered at the Khushal Khan Degree College ground after the body was shifted to his hometown overnight. A 65-member Afghan delegation also paid their last respects. Thousands of mourners participated in the funeral prayers. Elaborate security measures were made for the last rites of the cleric. Haq was the head of the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Akora Khattak. The seminary is dubbed in the western media as “University of Jihad” as several top Afghan and Pakistani Taliban leaders studied there, including Mullah Omar who had received an honorary doctorate from the seminary. He was also chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) religo-political party and was elected twice as a member of parliament. So far, no outfit has claimed the responsibility of the killing. A probe has been launched to nab the assailants who apparently escaped on a motorbike, police said. A spokesman for the Rawalpindi Police said the police had obtained CCTV footage and Haq’s family asked doctors not to conduct a postmortem.