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Pakistan: Minister rejects reports of Sufi Mohammad's arrest
 [ADN Kronos] The Pakistani government has rejected reports that the militant leader Maulana Sufi Mohammad has been arrested by security officials. Translation: Somebody picked him up. When his protectors herd about it they apologized and let him go. Interior minister Rehman Malik said on Friday that Sufi Mohammad, the chief of the hardline Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi, had not been detained in a raid in North West Frontier Province. In case you haven't been paying attention, Sufi sez it's his job to reach agreements with the government, not to keep them. Media reports quoting sources on Thursday said Sufi Mohammad, and three other TNSM officials, had been arrested from the Amandara region of Lower Dir. On Friday, the Pakistani army said it had arrested several senior associates of the Islamist cleric, Sufi Mohammed. Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said six men, including Sufi Mohammad's deputy Maulana Mohammed Alim, had been detained. The arrests took place during a raid on a religious seminary. Where else? Come to think of it, what kind of seminary is there beside a religious seminary? Maulana Alam and Amir Izzat were "accidentally" banged today in an ambush. Sufi Mohammed is the father-in-law of the Taliban leader in the troubled northwest Swat region, Maulana Fazlullah. He's periodically been reported dead, but nobody's produced a corpse. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Thursday confirmed that TNSM's central council member Maulana Wahab, spokesman Ameer Izzat Khan and deputy Maulana Alam, had been arrested during the raid, DawnNews reported. Sufi Mohammed negotiated the peace deal imposing Islamic law in Swat, which fell apart when Taliban fighters moved into neighbouring districts. Posted by: Fred 2009-06-06 |
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