Staff Reporter
Karachi
Prominent religious scholar Maulana Adil Khan, along with his driver, were shot dead on Saturday in Karachi’s Shah Faisal area, with Prime Minister Imran Khan chalking it up as “an attempt by India to create sectarian conflict across the country”.
Adil Khan is the son of late Saleemullah Khan, the former president of Wifaq-ul-Madaris Al-Arabia and is the principal of Jamia Farooqi.
According to police, the scholar was sitting in a Toyota Vigo, with the vehicle parked outside Shama shopping centre when suspects on motorcycles came up to him and shot him.
Police said that a third person, Umair, was also accompanying Maulana Adil and survived the incident. He had gone inside the shopping centre to buy mithai (sweet meats).
“The motorcyclists targeted him. It seems that he was being followed by terrorists,” said police officials.
They added that five spent 9mm casings were recovered from the site.
Police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said that three men were on a motorcycle. One got off and fired the shots.
Memon said it was not a part of Maulana Adil’s routine to go through this path.
A heavy contingent of police as well as Sindh Rangers soon reached the site of the incident and a probe with the help of CCTV cameras was undertaken.
After analysing the footage, Counter Terrorism Department incharge Raja Umar Khitab said that it shows three persons fleeing the site. “There might have been more nearby as back up,” he said.
“This is a conspiracy to incite sectarian violence,” he added.
