By Staff Reporter
CHARSADDA: A prominent religious scholar and former lawmaker affiliated with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) was shot dead on Tuesday in a targeted attack in northwestern Pakistan, prompting the Islamist party to announce two days of nationwide protests and accuse federal and provincial governments of failing to protect citizens.
Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Idrees, who served as JUI-F’s district emir in Charsadda and was widely regarded as one of party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s most trusted advisers, was killed while traveling from his home in the Tarangzai area to the Darul Uloom Noumania madrassa. Unidentified gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire on his vehicle around 8:10 am in the Tariqabad Utmanzai area, police said. Idrees was pronounced dead on arrival at the District Headquarters Hospital in Charsadda. Two police officers assigned to his security detail were wounded and transferred to a hospital in Peshawar for treatment.
The attack was described by police as a carefully planned operation. Officers recovered nine 9mm bullet casings from the scene and obtained CCTV footage and images of the suspects from Safe City cameras. Forensic evidence has been sent for analysis, and joint teams from the Counter-Terrorism Department and district police have launched raids across multiple locations, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed said.
JUI-F officials said the killing is part of a pattern of violence against religious scholars and immediately called for public mobilisation. In a statement, party spokesperson Aslam Ghouri said “full and peaceful protests” would be held Wednesday and Friday in all four provincial capitals and across districts to protest the “martyrdom” of Idrees. Provincial and district organizations will organize the demonstrations, Ghouri said. “Terming the death of Maulana Idrees an irreparable loss,” Ghouri added that party leaders were “exhausted by carrying the bodies of senior scholars.” He accused both the federal and provincial governments of failing to maintain law and order. “The government has failed,” he said. “The public will have to step forward to protect themselves.”
Senator Maulana Ataur Rehman, the JUI-F’s provincial emir, was more pointed in assigning blame. Speaking to reporters, he held the provincial government responsible and warned that continued attacks on religious scholars were “no longer tolerable.” He questioned why scholars were being “systematically targeted and killed” and said that if the rulers, government and state could not provide security to citizens, “they have no justification to remain in power.” Rehman announced that protests would target both provincial and federal authorities, criticizing the provincial administration for focusing on political movements against the center rather than addressing law and order in a province he said has been under its rule for 13 years.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif personally telephoned Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday to convey condolences, according to a statement from the premier’s office. Sharif prayed for the cleric’s elevation in the afterlife, expressed sympathy for the bereaved family and assured the JUI-F chief that the killers would be arrested soon. In a separate statement released through the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, Sharif described the killing as a source of “deep grief” and wished the injured police officers a speedy recovery.
Idrees’s death is the latest in a series of attacks on religious and political figures in the province. In July 2025, religious leader Pir Ibrahim was killed in Charsadda, and ANP leader Maulana Khan Zeb was shot dead in Bajaur. Earlier incidents included a mosque attack in Akora Khattak that killed senior JUI leader Hamidul Haq Haqqani and an assault in South Waziristan that injured JUI district emir Maulana Abdullah Nadeem.
JUI-F officials have repeatedly warned that the cumulative toll on senior scholars is testing the patience of their supporters. Police have not yet identified the attackers or a motive, but investigators said the assailants had trailed Idrees’s vehicle for some time before striking. Idrees, a respected figure in religious and political circles in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had represented the JUI-F as a member of the provincial assembly. His death has deepened concerns about the security of moderate religious voices in a region long plagued by militancy and targeted assassinations.
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