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Another standoff brews in Swat
 MINGORA: In the wake of the Lal Masjid operation, another confrontation apparently brews between government forces and a cleric and his followers in the scenic mountainous region of Swat district. Residents here call local cleric Maulana Fazlullah a magician who holds them enthralled when he broadcasts lectures on Islam on his illegal FM radio station. His support-base seems to be expanding with each passing day, and the religiously conservative people of the district seem ready to sacrifice their lives on a single call for jihad issued by the cleric.As security forces could be seen taking up positions across from his sprawling under-construction madrassa in Iman Dherey, Fazlullah told Daily Times he is inspired by [Taliban supreme leader] Mullah Mohammad Omar. The cleric made no attempt to hide his links with the Taliban. I have links with the Taliban on the basis of religion, he said. However, he denied helping the Taliban militarily, even though he fought in their ranks at Bagram near Kabul in late 2001. His jailed father-in-law, Sufi Muhammad, at the time mobilised volunteers to fight against the US-backed Northern Alliance. Despite a peace agreement with the NWFP government in June, the cleric is not at ease and the situation in the district is tense. A build-up of security forces in the district has led people here to believe that an operation against the young cleric is imminent. In what has been perceived as a breach of the agreement, the cleric issued a call for jihad following the Lal Masjid operation in Islamabad. The army arrived in the district at night, and I asked people to take up arms because the army presence is a clear violation of the agreement, Fazlullah asserted. Moderate voices in the district say the cleric would be rendered ineffective if his FM radio station were shut down. Fazlullah was allowed to continue his transmissions over the unlicensed radio station as part of the agreement with the government. Setting clear terms for any sort of rapprochement with President Gen Pervez Musharrafs regime, the cleric said, Peace will only be achieved if the country lives under the Sharia. The government should declare that Sharia will be enforced and peace will be restored automatically. The cleric said he would need around four years to prepare Muslims for an Islamic revolution. I am working on this and I will need the next four years to mentally prepare the people for the revolution. Analysts expect a major confrontation between Fazlullah and the government in the coming months or years as he is growing in stature and they say he could become the Abdur Rashid Ghazi of Swat district. Posted by: Fred 2007-07-13 |
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