The Kabul Tribune (KT) — A senior leader of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party died Saturday after succumbing to injuries sustained in a bomb blast near a religious seminary in the Wana bazaar area of South Waziristan, Pakistani media Dawn reported.
Police said the attack occurred Friday when a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in the Konra Cheena area near a madressah, targeting Maulana Sultan Muhammad Wazir, a senior JUI-F figure and the district president of Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia.
Wazir was critically wounded and was being shifted to Dera Ismail Khan for treatment when he died en route, according to police.
Lower South Waziristan District Police Officer Muhammad Tahir Shah Wazir said an investigation was underway and that law enforcement agencies were examining all possible aspects of the attack. Evidence collected from the scene was being analyzed to identify those responsible, he said.
The killing is the latest in a series of attacks targeting religious scholars and JUI-F leaders in South Waziristan, particularly in the Wana and Birmal areas, over the past two years, Dawn reported.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed grief over Wazir’s death in a statement posted on X, describing him as a “devoted and courageous leader.” He said the attack was not only an assault on an individual but an attack on what he described as the party’s moderate, peaceful and democratic ideology.
Rehman cited previous attacks on JUI-F leaders in the region, including a March 2025 bombing that severely injured the party’s South Waziristan emir and a June 2024 attack in which former district president Maulana Mirza Jan Wazir was wounded and later died.
He accused security institutions of failing to protect religious scholars and said such attacks were aimed at suppressing peaceful political and religious voices. Rehman called on authorities to ensure security in tribal districts and bring those responsible to justice.
Despite the violence, he said, the JUI-F would continue its political struggle for peace, religious harmony, democratic values and constitutional rule.
