...
the Godfather of the Taliban,leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as
Mullah Sandwichfor his habit of having two young boys at a time...
, one of the pre-eminent figures in Pakistain’s religio-political landscape, was stabbed to death on Friday at his house in Rawalpindi.
From the facts that have emerged thus far, it appears that a 10-minute window afforded by the absence of the maulana’s attendant from the scene was used to carry out the crime.
An investigation is yet to determine the motive for the attack, whether it was on account of personal enmity or driven by larger political objectives.
It may also reveal whether the killing coincidentally happened to occur during a period of domestic turmoil, or whether it was designed to take advantage of the charged situation on the streets, perhaps even exacerbate it.
Chief of his own faction of the JUI, the maulana was a vital cog in Pak-Afghan politics since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, even though his influence may have been somewhat on the wane.
His madressah in KP, Darul Aloom Haqqania, is known as ’jihad university’ for its role in churning out thousands of jihadis to fight the invading forces ‐ first the Russians, then the US ‐ and counts many well-known faceless myrmidons including Mullah Mohammad
BlinkyOmar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality. Died of an unspecified ailment in a Pak hospital...
and Jalaluddin Haqqani
...founder and still titular head of the Haqqani Network. Jalaluddin is old and tough and very crafty, one of the few Pashtun warlords who was worth spit...
among its alumni.
The ’father of the Taliban
...Arabic for
students...
’ was often among the intermediaries in efforts to engage the bad boy group in peace talks, and was recently approached in that context only a month ago.
In fact, even former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ...
sought the maulana’s help to intercede with the Afghan Taliban when they had kidnapped Mr Gilani’s son.
More recently, he had given public support to the PTI’s anti-polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...vaccination campaign in KP ‐ a creditable stance given that polio vaccinators were considered legitimate targets by violent Death Eater outfits at the time.
However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
his hard-line views ‐ he was among those chosen by the TTP to represent them at the short-lived talks with the Pakistain government ‐ made him a controversial and polarising figure to the end.