A vehicle that hit Federal Religious Minister Mufti Abdul Shakoor’s car in Islamabad on Saturday killing him was going almost double the prescribed speed limit, investigators said on Sunday.

The vehicle was travelling at 110km per hour while Mufti Shakoor’s car’s speed was 30km per hour in a 60 kph zone, said the motor vehicle examiner in an interim report.

The minister, 55, was heading towards Secretariat Chowk from Marriot on Constitution Avenue when his car was hit by a Hilux vehicle with five passengers on board, the police said.

When the accident took place, traffic signals were free as it was post-iftar time. Residents have said that many accidents were reported in the capital city over the past few days. They say that such incidents happen when a vehicle travelling at a slow speed enters the main road where normally vehicles are at high speed.

Read: Who was Mufti Abdul Shakoor?

Shakoor was shifted to the Polyclinic Hospital by the police, but he could not recover. Senior police officers were present at the spot.

All five occupants of the other vehicle were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the crash and shifted to a nearby police station for investigation.

A first information report of the accident was registered Secretariat Police Station on the complaint of Haji Qudar Ullah.

“Maulana Abdul Shakoor left my house for Parliament Lodges at 8:22pm and at 10pm the official driver informed my cook about the accident,” said the complaint. It cited that the religious minister was driving his government vehicle when the driver of the Hilux vehicle hit Shakoor’s car negligently and at high speed.

Due to this, it said Shakoor died on the spot. “Every aspect of the accident should be taken into consideration,” it said.

The FIR invoked sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Mufti Shakoor was driving the car, Inspector General of Islamabad Police Akbar Nasir Khan confirmed after visiting the site of the accident on Saturday. The religious minister died due to head injuries, the IGP said, adding that the ‘road accident’ was under investigation.

Islamabad Inspector General of Police Akbar Nasir Khan and Chief Commissioner Muhammad Usman Younus visited the area where the accident took place. The Islamabad police shared the pictures on Twitter.

The minister’s damaged black Corolla could be seen at the site as police and government officials inspected the scene.

Shakoor laid to rest in KP’s Lakki Marwat

Religious Affairs Minister Mufti Abdul Shakoor was laid to rest on Sunday in his hometown Tajbi Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district.

Shakoor’s funeral prayers were attended by many JUI-F workers, politicians and locals of the area. MNA Mohsin Dawar and JUI leader Maulana Muhammad Anwar were also present.

Mufti Abdul Shakoor hailed from the Tajbi Khel area of the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The deceased was survived by a son and two widows.

He started his parliamentary political career in 2013 when he fought the National Assembly election from the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal areas. But he was defeated.

Later, Shakoor contested the election in 2018 and was elected as the MNA. His constituency consisted of Lakki Marwat, Tank, DI Khan, Bannu, Kohat, and Peshawar.

He became a lawmaker after winning from NA-51, erstwhile FATA, on the MMA, a political alliance of religious parties, ticket. His constituency consisted of Lakki Marwat, Tank, DI Khan, Bannu, Kohat, and Peshawar.

He was a central leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. He passed out from Darul Uloom Haqqania Akora Khattak, a town in the Nowshera district. Mufti Shakoor did his master’s in Philosophy and Islamic Studies. He also taught jurisprudence in different madressahs.

The JUI leader was shifted to Peshawar for a long time and was teaching in the Palosi area of the provincial capital.

He was also a regular preacher at a mosque in Peshawar and he used to teach the students in the madressah adjacent to the same mosque. But after getting the post of federal minister, he had delayed teaching.

Mufti Shakoor was the emir of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fata and he was given the charge of Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony in April 2022 after the PDM government came to power.

Shakoor had provided many services for the JUI and on the basis of his ability he was declared the unanimous emir of all tribes ie erstwhile FATA for many years.

Shakoor was considered to be a “very close associate” of JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Some political commentators considered Shakoor’s performance better as compared to other ministries as he had managed to have benefits for pilgrims after negotiation and consultation with Saudi Arabia authorities despite the increase in Hajj expenses. His ministry also returned more than Rs5 billion to pilgrims.

This year, he was trying to lessen the Hajj expenses. “Despite the reduction of expenses by the Saudi authorities, the expenses have increased due to the depreciation of the rupee,” he had said.