PESHAWAR: A shooting at the residence of a prominent religio-political party leader, Mufti Kifayatullah, in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province left his son and daughter dead and his wife critically wounded on Saturday, while he himself sustained serious injuries, according to an official statement.
A former provincial lawmaker from Malakand division and district chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, Kifayatullah was attacked inside his residence in Batkhela, Levies officials said in a statement.
“A shooting incident took place at the house of Mufti Kifayatullah, district chief of JUI-F in Batkhela,” the statement said. “As a result of the firing, Kifayatullah was seriously injured, his daughter and son were killed, and his wife was also critically wounded.”
Authorities said the assailant was the JUI-F politician’s own son, who managed to escape after the attack.
The bodies and the injured were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Batkhela, where doctors later said Kifayatullah’s condition was out of danger.
The motive behind the shooting was not immediately clear, though the incident appeared to be linked to some domestic dispute.
The JUI-F, a major religio-political party with deep roots in northwestern Pakistan, has long exercised influence in the area.
However, it struggled in the 2024 general elections, with leaders blaming security threats for their inability to run a full campaign.
