AKORA KHATTAK: Thousands of mourners attended a funeral Saturday of a cleric slain in Pakistan’s northwest.
Hamidul Haq, the head of Jamia Haqqania seminary, was one of seven people killed in a suicide bombing a day earlier at a mosque inside a seminary compound. Police said Haq was the target of the attack.
He was the son of the late Maulana Samiul Haq, a Pakistani politician who led his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) party before being assassinated in 2018 in Rawalpindi.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack.
Authorities issued a photo of the alleged suicide bomber and urged the public to identify him, offering a reward of Rs500,000, or $1,787, for information on his name, parentage and place of residence.
Mourners packed into the main hall of the seminary for Haq’s funeral, with more praying on the street. The prayers passed without incident due to a heavy police deployment and seminary students guarding the venue.
The bombing at Jamia Haqqania seminary was one of four attacks in Pakistan on Friday, two of them at mosques, which were unusual both in their number and timing, just before the holy month of Ramadan.
Thousands attend funeral of senior Pakistani cleric slain in northwest
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Thousands attend funeral of senior Pakistani cleric slain in northwest
- Hamidul Haq, the head of Jamia Haqqania seminary, was one of seven people killed in a suicide bombing a day earlier
- Haq was the son of the late Maulana Samiul Haq, a Pakistani politician who was assassinated in 2018 in Rawalpindi
Pakistan president to visit Bahrain today to enhance trade, defense, security cooperation
- Asif Ali Zardari to meet Bahrain’s king and crown prince, discuss regional issues of mutual interest, says state media
- Trade volume between Pakistan, Bahrain has increased from $500 million to $1 billion in recent years, says Pakistan’s FO
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to visit Bahrain today, Tuesday, for a four-day visit aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two nations in trade, defense and security, state media reported.
Zardari will lead a high-level delegation during his visit to Bahrain from Jan. 13-16, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Monday. The president will hold talks with King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa and Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa during his visit on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.
“The visit seeks to reinforce Pakistan’s longstanding cooperation with the brotherly Gulf nation while expanding opportunities for collaboration in trade and economic partnership, defense and security and people-to-people ties,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
Pakistan enjoys cordial relations with all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including Bahrain. Islamabad and Manama established diplomatic ties in October 1971 after the Gulf country gained independence.
The trade volume between the two countries in recent years has ranged between $500 million to around $1 billion, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry. Major exports from Pakistan to Bahrain include meat, vegetables, rice, tobacco and textile. Imports from Bahrain, on the other hand, include petroleum products, ferrous wastes and scrape and aluminum.
Pakistan and Bahrain have established a Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) at the level of the foreign ministers to discuss trade and economic ties, take decisions mutually and supervise the implementation of these decisions. So far, only two sessions of the JMC have been held, the last in Bahrain in July 2021.
Zardari’s visit also takes place amid increasing economic engagement between the two nations following the Pakistan-Bahrain Investment Summit in May 2025. Both sides signed contracts worth $13 million during the summit.
