- Official says blast had critically injured cleric.
- JUI-F chief mourns loss of party leader.
- Fazlur Rehman demands probe into explosion.
A Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader, who was injured in a remote-controlled blast in Lower South Waziristan’s Wana, has died of his wounds, the district police officer said on Saturday.
Police said Maulana Sultan was wounded a day earlier when an explosive device detonated near a madrassa in the market area, leaving him critically injured.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed deep sorrow over the death of the party leader, saying he was saddened by the news of Maulana Sultan’s martyrdom.
He demanded an immediate investigation into the incident and called for those responsible to be made an example.
The JUI-F chief also offered condolences to the bereaved family, party workers, local residents and students of the deceased, praying for patience for the family and eternal peace for the departed.
He also voiced concerns over the rising terrorist incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, which have claimed the lives of countless civilians and security personnel.
Terrorist incidents have seen a sharp increase in both provinces, particularly KP, since the Afghan Taliban regime grabbed power in 2021.
An annual report from the Centre for Research and Security Studies mentioned that KP experienced the most significant surge in terrorist incidents in 2025.
The fatalities from terrorist attacks “rose from 1,620 in 2024 to 2,331 in 2025” — more than 40% year-on-year increase in the province.
Earlier this week, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that nearly 71% of terrorist incidents reported in 2025 were from KP.
In a presser on January 6, he stressed that the primary reason for this was a “politically conducive environment and the flourishing political-criminal-terror-nexus” in the province.
The ISPR DG said that law enforcement agencies carried out 75,175 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) across the country, out of which 14,658 IBOs were conducted in KP.
At least 5,397 terrorism incidents were reported nationwide during 2025, of which 3,811 incidents occurred in KP, he added.
