ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki on Saturday extended his condolences over the demise of Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Mufti Abdul Shakoor in a road accident.
A Toyota Hilux carrying five men hit Shakoor’s vehicle in Islamabad’s highly-secured Red Zone area late Friday, according to the Islamabad police.
The minister was shifted to hospital but he could not survive, while the occupants of the vehicle that hit Shakoor’s car were detained immediately after the incident.
“I, on behalf of myself and as the ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the embassy, express my heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the family of the late Honorable Minister of Religious Affairs, Interfaith Harmony Mr. Mufti Abdul Shakoor and the brotherly people of Pakistan,” the Saudi ambassador said on Twitter late Saturday.
Shakoor was elected to the National Assembly, lower house of Pakistan parliament, from the country’s northwestern tribal region during the last general elections in 2018.
In recent days, his ministry was focusing on making necessary arrangements for aspiring pilgrims from Pakistan who plan to perform Hajj this year.
In his response, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was deeply saddened by the sudden death of his “friend, companion and an important member of the federal cabinet.”
“He was a pious scholar, an ideological political activist and a good human being,” Sharif wrote on Twitter. “May Allah grant forgiveness to the deceased and patience to his bereaved family.”
