Targeted: Taleemul Quran official shot dead

Amanullah was ambushed on his way back from a madrassa in Khurram Colony.

ISLAMABAD: Unidentified men riding a motorcycle shot dead a member of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Mufti Amanullah, near Wapda Gate on Dhamial Road in the limits of RA Bazaar Police Station on Sunday.

According to official sources, Amanullah, the vice administrator of Darul Uloom Taleemul Quran Rawalpindi, had gone to lay the foundation stone of a madrassa in Khurram Colony when he was ambushed on his way back. The police said Amanullah was travelling on a motorcycle along with one of his companions when two unidentified men opened fire on them. The deceased was the son of the madrassa’s mohtamim or chief caretaker.

Resultantly, Amanullah was killed while his companion was injured, the police said, adding that the culprits escaped following the shooting. The body and the injured were taken to Civil Hospital. Traders of Raja Bazaar and some madrassa members took out a small protest against the targeted killing. Taleemul Quran was ground zero last year when clashes broke out between participants taking out the Ashura procession and the madrassa’s members.

At least nine people were killed and around 100 injured in the clashes, which also resulted in the imposition of curfew for several days. The capital has been witnessing an alarming rise in tit-for-tat sectarian killings recently.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2014.