Pak religious leaders claim 'halwa' as new murder weapon

Islamabad, Dec 18(ANI): Seven religious leaders and their three attendants have fallen sick after eating 'halwa' in the suite of JUI-F Secretary-General Abdul Ghafoor Haidri in the Parliament Lodges, and the host believes it was an attempt on his life.

Police have accordingly registered a case of attempted murder and causing harm by means of poison against unknown persons.

Victims of the poisonous halwa, included Jamaat Islami's Liaquat Baloch and Zubair Farooq, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam's deputy Ameer Abdul Khaliq, press secretary Abdul Haleem and Rashidul Haq, The Dawn reported.

Haidri did not take the halwa that his cook, Zakir Hussain, said was delivered by a man the day before as an offering for the JUI leader.

Zakir, who is one of the victims admitted to the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGHS), told police that he would recognise the man who brought it, if he came across him.

According to reports, all the ten victims of the food poisoning were out of danger, but still weak in the stomach. (ANI)