Pakistani religious scholar Maulana Samiul Haq assassinated in Rawalpindi

Islamabad: Maulana Samiul Haq, a Pakistani religious scholar and a former senator, has been assassinated, Pakistani media reports say. Samiul Haq was the chief of the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S).

Maulana Hamidul Haq said his father was stabbed to death while he was resting in his room.

"His driver Haqqani had gone out. On his return, he saw that Maulana Sami was lying in his bed in a pool of blood. He was no longer alive," Hamid said while talking to Geo News.

The news of his death comes at a sensitive time, with religio-political parties out on the streets protesting the Supreme Court's acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, in a blasphemy case.

According to Hamid, Maulana Sami was unable to take part in the protest that was underway against Bibi's acquittal due to road blockades and had returned home.

"He was stabbed multiple times," he said. Maulana Sami's driver/gunman had left the room for approximately 15 minutes when he was stabbed.

Sami's body is being shifted to District Headquarters Hospital, TV reports said.

Maulana Sami, said to be around 83 years old, was the head of the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Akora Khattak.

He was member of the Senate of Pakistan from 1985 to 1991 and again from 1991 to 1997.

He had been aligned with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf for the July 25, 2018 election.