Pakistan’s ‘father of Taliban’ cleric killed

ISLAMABAD — Prominent Pakistani cleric Maulana Samiul Haq, also known as the “father of the Taliban,” was killed in a knife attack at his home in Rawalpindi Friday, his family and police said.

Haq’s son, Hamidul Haq, said his father was in his bedroom when he was attacked by an assailant, who escaped undetected.

“My father has been martyred. He was alone at his home. His guard had gone out minutes before the attack and upon his return he saw my father in critical condition,” he told reporters.

Police say Haq, 81, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.

Yousaf Shah, Haq’s spokesperson, said neither the attacker nor their motive was yet known.

Soon after his death, scores of Haq’s supporters rioted, damaging shops and vehicles in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Haq’s family appealed to his followers to remain peaceful.

A well-known religious scholar with a large following among radical Islamists, Haq was the head of his faction of the Jamiate-Ulema Islam (JUI) party.

Haq’s sprawling Haqqani seminary taught many of Afghanistan’s Taliban and thousands of other students a strict interpretation of Islam.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the deputy leader of the Haqqani network, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, was one of dozens of Taliban leaders who graduated from Haq’s seminary, located in the conservative Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province on the border with Afghanistan.

Haq’s funeral is expected to be held Saturday in Akora Khattak.