Maulana Hamidul Haq, the son of late Maulana Samiul Haq, said on Saturday his father was assassinated while preparing to mediate for the Taliban in the Afghan peace process, Pakistan’s Express Tribune reported.

Samiul Haq had been known as the spiritual leader of the Taliban and was stabbed to death in his home early this month.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the party’s provincial leadership in Peshawar on Saturday, Hamidul Haq said: “My father was extending moral and political support to Taliban and all the stakeholders had tasked him to mediate for Afghan peace.”

“Foreign agents killed him [Maulana Sami] when he was all prepared to negotiate between the [Afghan] stakeholders,” he said.

According to the Express Tribune, Hamidul Haq said his father’s assassination would encourage his followers to work with more zeal for the development and prosperity of Pakistan – a country he loved.

The Express Tribune also quoted Hamidul Haq as saying that Punjab police were making progress regarding the investigation into his father’s killing but call on authorities to speed up the process and bring the killers to justice.

Samiul Haq, who had been 80 years old at the time of his death, was killed in his Rawalpindi home on November 2.

For decades, Samiul Haq ran the Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa, which educated several key Taliban leaders including Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.