Munir Shakir

Mufti Munir Shakir (Pashto/Urdu: منیر شاکر; 4 April 1969 - 15 March 2025) was an Islamic cleric and preacher. The founder of Lashkar-e-Islam, he later became a strong critic of state oppression by Pakistan and injustices against Pashtuns. He actively participated in Pashtun Tahafuz Movement gatherings, including the Pashtun National Jirga in Khyber.^[1] In December 2024, Shakir, along with Malik Naseer Kokikhel Afridi and Mufti Kifayatullah Swati, led a delegation of the Pashtun Jirga to Kurram District to mediate a Shia–Sunni conflict between two groups of Pashtun tribes.

Munir Shakir
Lashkar-e-Islam Emir
In office December 2004 – May 2005
Succeeded by	Mangal Bagh
Personal details
Born	Mufti Munir Shakir (1969-04-04)April 4, 1969 Kurram Agency, Pakistan
Died	15 March 2025(2025-03-15) (aged 55) Ormur, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Shakir was killed by a bomb planted outside a Peshawar mosque on 15 March 2025.^[2]

Radio ministry

Shakir was born in 1969.^[1] His early education was at a school in Mokhi Zai. During his religious studies at Karbogha Sharif near Thall, he was mentored by his cousin, Maulana Syed Mukhtaruddin Shah, a respected cleric.^[3] Originally from the Kurram Valley, Shakir became known after he moved to Bara Tehsil, Khyber Agency, where he established an FM pirate radio station. Using this vehicle, he began to promote his religious beliefs, based in Deobandi theology. Among his more controversial pronouncements was his alleged statement that opium is halal, provided it is produced and used for medical purposes.^[4][5]

Shakir worked in Kurram Agency until 2004.^[6]

Enmity with Pir Saifur Rahman

In 2005, Akhundzada Saif-ur-Rahman Mubarak, a supporter of the more moderate Hanafi school of Islam, established his own FM pirate radio station to compete with Shakir's station. Rivalry between the two clerics increased, causing tribal elders to denounce the two in December 2005 for fomenting sectarian tension. Both clerics then went into hiding, with Shakir handing control of his radio station and Lashkar-e-Islam organization to Mangal Bagh. The hostilities peaked around 29 March 2006, when "hundreds" of Shakir's followers gathered in the Badshahkili neighborhood of Bara tehsil to attack Rahman's followers.^[7]

Role in Lashkar-e-Islam

In 2004, Shakir founded the organization Lashkar-e-Islam. Shortly thereafter, he was ejected from Bara Tehsil, and turned over control of the organization to local driver Mangal Bagh.^[8] In 2008, the organization was banned.^[9]

Later activities

Shakir held a position with Ishaat-e-Tauheed, but disassociated from the group six to seven years before he died. He embraced the teachings of the Ahl-e-Quran movement and wrote books in which he argued that fabricated hadiths altered the true essence of Islam and that the Quran alone defined the true teachings of Islam. At the Pashtun National Jirga, he delivered a speech that condemned the Pakistani government's role in regional conflicts.^[1][3]

Death

Shakir was assassinated in a bombing outside a mosque in Ormur, Peshawar, on 15 March 2025.^[2]