KARACHI - After the target killing of Maulana Dr Adil Khan in Karachi the other day, religious scholars have now expressed serious concerns over their security and urged the government to provide them security, sources said. 

In this regard, scholars of different schools of thought have now restricted their movement amid fears. The scholars demanded from the government to provide foolproof security amid the threat reports compiled by the law enforcement. 

Despite repeated requests, sources added the government has not yet provided any kind of security to clerics, the religious scholars maintained. “Rangers, police and law enforcement agencies have been asked repeatedly but we got no response in this regard. In fact, already given police security has now been taken back,” the scholars said. The clerics said it was the responsibility of the state to provide security to its citizens. 

Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Maulana Asad Mahmood of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, Dr Abdul Razzaq Iskander, Maulana Obaid-ur-Rehman, Allama Aurangzeb Farooqi, Maulana Taj Hanafi, Maulana Rab Nawaz, Maulana Abdul Rehman Muawiyah, Senator Maulana Ata-ur-Rehman, Dr Atiq-ur-Rehman, Maulana Saeed Yusuf, Maulana Safiullah, Maulana Ata-ul-Haq Darwish have been deprived of security. 

Other clerics including Mufti Zarrooli Khan, Mufti Noman Naeem, Maulana Obaidullah Khalid, Maulana Hakeem Muhammad Mazhar, Hafiz Abdul Qayyum Nomani, Dr Qasim Mahmood, Maulana Iqbalullah, Maulana Muhammad Tayyab, Mufti Zubair and Mufti Abdul Sattar have also been deprived of their security. 

On October 10, the administrator of a religious school was shot dead in Karachi’s Shah Faisal Colony. Maulana Adil Khan of Jamia Farooqia was killed when unidentified motorcyclists fired shots at his car. He was taken to Liaquat National Hospital where he succumbed to his bullet wounds. Maulana Adil Khan’s driver was also killed in the shooting incident.