JUI-F leader Maulana Idrees gunned down in Charsada

PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen shot dead  prominent religious scholar and former provincial lawmaker Maulana Idrees in district of Charsadda on Tuesday, police said.

Two security personnel were also inured in the attack.

Maulana Idrees, a senior cleric affiliated with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), was targeted while on his way to a madrassa, according to police and witnesses.

Two armed assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on Maulana Idrees before fleeing the scene.

Two police guards accompanying Idrees were injured in the attack and shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Charsadda for treatment, police said.

Security forces launched a search operation in the area following the shooting, while authorities tightened security across the district.

Students of religious seminaries and activists of the JUI-F staged protests at several locations in Charsadda, demanding the immediate arrest of the attackers and a transparent investigation into the killing.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman condemned the attack, describing Idrees as a respected scholar who had “paid the price for defending Islam and Pakistan.”

“The martyrdom of the white-bearded religious scholar is an attack on those who speak of the Quran, Sunnah and Pakistan,” he said in a statement, adding that religious scholars lacked adequate protection despite their role in society.

Rehman said that Idrees had consistently advocated peace but had fallen victim to violence, and called for the swift arrest of those responsible.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.