[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court here on Monday indicted the imprisoned chief of proscribed Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM),...Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law) is a Pak cut-thoat group whose objective is to enforce their definition of Sharia law in Pakistain whether anybody wants it or not. It was founded by Sufi Muhammad in 1992, and was banned by President Musharraf in January, 2002 after Sufi dispatched several thousand yokels to Afghanistan to fight the infidel and ended up with most of them killed or captured and held for ransom. In 2007 TNSM took over Swat, which shows how well the
banningworked. TNSM is the Pony League of Islamic militancy..
Maulana Sufi Mohammad, and 19 others in an over 17-year old case of attacking a cop shoppe and making some coppers hostage.
Maulana Sufi and other accused persons, mostly belonging to TNSM, pleaded not guilty
"Wudn't me."
to the charge and decided to stand trial following which the court fixed May 15 for the next hearing and also summoned the prosecution witnesses.
Due to security reasons the judge of the anti-terrorism court Swat, Asim Imam, has been conducting trials against Maulana Sufi Mohammad and dozens of other members of TNSM inside the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar Central Prison in around 10 terrorism-related cases mostly registered in 1994-95.
In the instant case the prosecution alleged that the activists of TNSM headed by Maulana Sufi Mohammad had stage a demonstration in 1995 demanding enforcement of Islamic Shariah in Malakand region. It is alleged that when coppers tried to disperse them the accused attacked the concerned Khwazakhela cop shoppe and also took away some coppers. It is added that the accused had kept the coppers in wrongful confinement and had set them free later on.
An FIR was registered against the accused at Khwazakhela cop shoppe under section 365 (kidnapping), section 342 (wrongful confinement), section 121A (conspiracy to wage war against Pakistain) and section 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of Pakistain Penal Code and the anti-terrorism law.
Few months ago the same court had framed charges against Maulana Sufi Mohammad and several others over the murder of an MPA of Pakistain People's Party, Badiuzzaman Khan.
The MPA hailed from Shangla, adjacent to Swat, and was killed on Nov 3, 1994, in the jurisdiction of Mingora cop shoppe.
While during the last decade Maulana Sufi had mostly remained imprisoned the successive governments did not conduct trials against him in several old cases and even in one of the cases he was shown as proclaimed offender.
Initially, he was tossed in the clink
Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up!
in Kurrum Agency in Dec 2001 on his return to Pakistain from Afghanistan where he had gone heading around 10,000 persons to fight the American forces there.
He was tried and sentenced under several sections of Pakistain Penal Code and Frontier Crimes Regulation by the concerned political agent. When the present Awami National Party's government came to power in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, he was released under an agreement on April 21, 2008. Later, another agreement was inked between TNSM and provincial government in Feb 2009 but it failed in restoration of peace in Malakand Division.
After launching of a military operation in Malakand Division, Maulana Sufi Mohammad was again tossed in the clink
Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up!
on July 26, 2009, from Sethi Town, Peshawar, along with his three sons. He has been in jail since then.