Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Raza Haider in Karachi was part of a plan hatched by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other banned outfits to destabilise the country.
Haider was gunned down in the financial capital along with his security guard by unidentified gunmen inside Jamia Masjid on Monday.
Malik said outlawed sectarian outfits, including the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), were involved in Haider's murder.
"Raza was on the terrorists' hit-list and the government had informed him about the threat.
The terrorists were also planning to deploy two suicide attackers at Haider's funeral," The Daily Times quoted him, as saying.
Malik said a joint committee comprising officials from the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau, the FIA, Rangers and police had been constituted to restore peace in Karachi.