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.
