Shaheed Agha Ziauddin Rizvi

Shaheed Agha Ziauddin Rizvi was a Shi'a cleric born at Aumphary, Gilgit, to a religious family. He completed his schooling in Gilgit; he later moved to Lahore, and afterwards Iran, for higher religious education.He also visited the UK and Kuwait as a member of a tablighee delegation in the early 1980s.

He rose to prominence in 1990 after playing an important role in restoring peace and reconciliation after the sectarian attack by Wahabi terrorists supported by the General Zia-ul-Haq regime in 1988, which left over 300 people dead.

He was generally regarded as a symbol of unity by the majority Shia community in Northern Areas, and served as central Khateeb of Gilgit Imamia Masjid for 15 years until his death.

He was attacked by regime-supported Wahabi terrorists on January 8, 2005 [cite news
last =
first =
title = Agha Ziauddin was Attacked.
pages =
publisher = DAWN
date = 2005-01-14
url = http://www.dawn.com/2005/01/14/top5.htm
accessdate = 2007-04-03 ] [cite news
last =
first =
title = Agha Ziauddin Attacked.
pages =
publisher = Herald
date = 2005-02-01
url = http://www.dawn.com/herald/febmain05.htm
accessdate = 2007-04-03 ] in an attack in which two of his body guards were killed. He was transferred to Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi via helicopter. He lost his life at CMH Rawalpindi on Jan 13, 2005 at 10:00 PST. [cite news
last =
first =
title = Agha Ziauddin laid to rest in Gilgit
pages =
publisher = DAWN
date = 2005-01-14
url = http://jammu-kashmir.com/archives/archives2005/kashmir20050114b.html
accessdate = 2007-04-03 ]

References