What happened
Unidentified gunmen shot dead prominent religious scholar Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Idris in the Utmanzai area of Charsadda district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday morning, a police official said.
The attackers sprayed his car with bullets, according to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Two police officers were also injured in the attack but were said to be out of danger.
“We are investigating the incident,” Regional Police Officer Mardan Rab Nawaz Khan told Arab News. “Further details can only be provided after the investigation is complete.”
Why it matters
Peshawar-based journalist and security analyst Iftikhar Firdous told Arab News that Idris was a member of the religio-political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. Firdous said Idris had travelled to Afghanistan in 2024 to meet Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada in an attempt to resolve tensions between Islamabad and Kabul over the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group. Pakistan accuses Kabul of harbouring TTP militants who launch attacks against Pakistan, charges that Afghanistan denies.
While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Firdous pointed out that multiple publications linked to the local Daesh affiliate ISKP had issued direct threats against the cleric in recent months, and that authorities had issued security alerts to him in the days leading up to the killing. The attack came amid a continuing wave of militant violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including a February assault on a checkpoint in Bajaur.
Reaction
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari expressed sorrow over Idris’s killing in separate statements. Sharif conveyed his sympathies to Idris’s relatives and prayed for his soul, the Prime Minister’s Office said. Zardari prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured police officers and said such “cowardly acts of terrorism” could not weaken the morale of the nation, adding that the resolve to eliminate terrorism remained strong and unwavering.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi described the death of Sheikh-ul-Hadith Maulana Idris as an irreparable loss not only for the province but for the entire country, according to a statement issued by his office.
What is still uncertain
No group had claimed responsibility by the time the reports were published, and police did not name a suspected attacker or a motive. The account of Idris’s 2024 travel to Afghanistan and the threats against him came from a security analyst rather than an official finding. The police investigation was continuing.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 2026-05-05.
- Primary source — Arab News PK: “Unidentified gunmen kill prominent religious scholar in northwest Pakistan — police”5 May 2026 · Reports the Charsadda shooting, the police account, the analyst's assessment, and statements by the prime minister, president and KP governor.
