Syed Sibtain Kazmi, 57, imam for the Anjuman e Haideria mosque, on St Mary’s Road in Manningham, is accused of being involved in the killing of Maulana Azam Tariq in 2003.

Syed Sibtain Kazmi (R) arrested in murder case of Maulana Azam Tariq (L)

Sibtain Kazmi was arrested by Pakistani police this morning, reportedly after he attempted to fly home from Benazir International Airport to Manchester UK bound flight via Doha.

He was arrested in relation to the murder of Maulana Azam Tariq, the chief of banned Sipah-e-Sahaba group who was killed in 2003 when his vehicle was attacked by gunmen in Islamabad during a spate of violence between Shia and Sunni groups.

Syed Sibtain Kazmi is a Shia Imam from Pakistan who has spent years leading prayers at a number of British mosques and most recently in Bradford.

An amount of one million rupees was declared as the head money by the government for the detention of Sibtain Kazmi.

Supporters of Maulana Azam Tariq went on a rampage in the city and burned down a cinema hall in Melody Market, killing two people inside in 2003.

Sipah-e-Sahaba group (SSP) was banned for being a terrorist outfit in 2002. The organisation, which has a sectarian, anti-Shia ideology, is also believed to be linked with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

According to the late Minority Affairs minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, SSP was behind the Gojra riots, while Wikileaks cables identified a number of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan members as having their origins in the SSP.

The FIR had been registered against the accused Syed Sibtain Kazmi in Golra Police Station, Islamabad in 2003.

Syed Sibtain Kazmi is the Imam who granted an Islamic divorce to alleged “honour killing” victim Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, who was killed in Jhelum, Pakistan in Pakistan in July 2016.