Pak religious scholar Maulana Samiul Haq assassinated in Rawalpindi

Islamabad, Nov 2: Pakistani religious scholar and former senator Maulana Samiul Haq, also known as 'father of Taliban', was assassinated in Rawalpindi on Friday.

According to Pakistani media, Maulana Hamidul Haq, the son of the JUI-S chief, said his father was stabbed to death while he was resting in his room. Maulana Sami was a heart patient, Hamid said.

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

Haq, 82, was the head of the Islamic religious seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Akora Khattak town and also the chief of the hardline political party Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami (JUI-S). Haq, a heart patient, was killed by unidentified attackers while he was resting in his room, his son Maulana Hamidul Haq was quoted as saying by Geo News.

He was regarded as the "Father of the Taliban" because of the relationship between a student (Talib) and Teacher is a relationship of Father and Child, and had close ties to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Sami ul Haq was the chancellor of Darul Uloom Haqqania, a Deobandi Islamic seminary which is the alma mater of many prominent Taliban members

(With PTI inputs)