RAWALPINDI: Chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Maulana Samiul Haq, who was assassinated in his house in Bahria Town on Friday, had died an hour before he was taken to hospital and there was no bleeding from his body, a source close to the investigation revealed, quoting from a medical report.

“The Maulana had expired an hour before being brought to Safari Hospital, located about 300 metres from his private residence. There was no bleeding from his body and his ECG was at zero level,” the source told Dawn, quoting the doctor who first examined him.

Since the cell phone service was suspended on Friday in Rawalpindi and Islamabad due to a protest by the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan across the country, no emergency call had been made either by the injured Maulana or anybody else to the management of the housing ­society or to the police.

Police investigation to get under way tomorrow

A police team headed by Super­intendent of Police (investigation) Dr Ghayas Gull has been formed to investigate the ­murder of the former senator.

Sources said a police team was sent to Akora Khattak to interview the slain leader’s secretary, but they returned back after they were assured of full cooperation by the heirs of the Maulana.

The police team will be sent again to Akora Khattak within the next 72 hours.

A source close to the investigation revealed that Maulana Sami’s secretary Syed Ahmed Shah left the slain leader alone in his bedroom on the second floor of Safari villa and locked the main gate on the outside before leaving to fetch water from a nearby water filtration plant.

Maulana Samiul Haq was alone at his home as nobody else was there when the murder took place.

Initial police investigation revealed that the murder took place during the 15-minute absence of Ahmed Shah from the house. After his return, he unlocked the main gate and entered the house. Since he didn’t get a response from the Maulana’s bedroom, he opened the door and found his leader lying in a pool of blood.

Police believe that the killer might be hiding inside the house because the gate was locked by Ahmed Shah while leaving the house. He could have escaped from the kitchen door as it was found opened when the police reached there and collected evidence. The police were unable to determine the number of killers, but they suspected that he was alone.

The police could not recover the weapon used in the murder which they suspected could be an ordinary kitchen knife. A police team had already carried out combing of surrounding green areas and gardens of neighboring houses, but couldn’t find the weapon.

The sources said the police were likely to conduct a comprehensive search of surrounding areas for the murder weapon within the next two days.

After Maulana Sami was pronounced dead by the doctors, the city police officer asked the slain leader’s sons for an autopsy, but they refused. The investigators believe that they will face problems in the investigation in the absence of a postmortem report.

A senior official of the Counter- Terrorism Department told Dawn that since the Maulana’s murder was not a terrorism case, the local police have been investigating it with the assistance of special branch.

Meanwhile, Punjab Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Basharat Raja has directed police officials of Rawalpindi to make all-out efforts to apprehend the killers of Maulana Samiul Haq.

Rawalpindi police officers briefed the minister on the progress of investigation on Saturday. They told him they had continued the investigation in accordance with the evidence, while forensic report would be obtained.

The minister expressed sympathy with the bereaved family and thousands of his followers.

He directed police officers to complete the investigation as soon as possible and arrest the culprits.

Airport police have registered a murder case on a complaint of Maulana Sami’s son Maulana Hamidul Haq. Nobody was ­nominated in the murder case by the complainant.

“My father received 10 to 12 cuts by a blunt weapon on his chest, face, heart, forehead, ear, shoulder and left cheek,” the complainant said.

The police team will formally initiate the investigation on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2018