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India-Pakistan

TNSM leader dies in custody

2009-09-04

[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Maulana Rahim Gul, one of the founding leaders of banned Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) and a prominent religious scholar, died in the security forces' custody on Wednesday. "He's dead, Jim!" Maulana Rahim Gul, who was Khateeb of Jamia Mosque in Lilonai village, had been picked up by security forces some three weeks ago and was being interrogated in connection with Taliban activities in Shangla district. Official sources said the Maulana had been on hunger strike for the last several days and he was shifted to District Headquarters Hospital, Alpuri, when his condition deteriorated on Tuesday night. "Mmmmmm! Chapattis!" However, he could not survive and breathed his last in the hospital. "Chapattis? I can't... I must... [gag!]... [rattle!]" Later, he was laid to rest in his Lilonai village. Late Maulana Rahim Gul was among the founding leaders of the banned TNSM and a close aide to TNSM chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad. He was a fiery orator and was accused of having hand in Taliban's entry into the Shangla district in 2007. The sources said some Taliban fighters had also taken shelter at his residence in Lilonai when they fled the area after 'Rah-e-Rast' operation was launched in Swat Valley.

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India-Pakistan

Arrest of TNSM chief's sons

2009-08-20

[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Tuesday directed the district coordination officer (DCO) of Peshawar to submit record of the arrest of three sons of the banned Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad. Presiding over a single bench of the PHC, Justice Dost Muhammad Khan directed the DCO Peshawar to submit the record before the next hearing fixed for August 20. The judge was taking up a petition filed by Sufi Muhammad's three sons -- Rizwanullah, Hayatullah and Ziaullah -- through Bakht Wahid, one of their close relatives. The petitioners stated that on July 22 the personnel of Paharipura Police Station took them into custody from their house in Sethi Town, Haji Camp Peshawar and put them in "illegal" confinement at different police station including CID Centre in Peshawar. They said it came to their knowledge that DCO Peshawar later charged them under Section 3(1) of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). The petitioners' counsel, Muhammad Atlas Khan, argued that his clients were law-abiding citizens and their father, Maulana Sufi Muhammad, was a religious personality and well-known for his views in the NWFP and the country. Rizwanullah, he said, had settled in Saudi Arabia for the last 13/14 years, while Hayatullah was a PTC teacher in a government-run school in Maidan in Dir Lower and Ziaullah was doing his post-graduation in Islamiyat from Malakand University. The counsel asserted that his clients never indulged in any political or criminal activity and this fact could be confirmed from record of all the police stations of the Frontier province. He said the DCO Peshawar arrested them under Section 3(1) of the MPO and handed them down one-month imprisonment. The petitioners prayed to the court to set aside the DCO order and release them from Central Prison, Peshawar. The NWFP home and tribal affairs secretary, DCO Peshawar, senior superintendent of police (operation) Peshawar and Paharipura Police Station in-charge were made respondents in the petition. Sufi Mohammad was initially arrested under 3 MPO like his three sons for 30 days and sent to the jail. Subsequently, a sedition case was filed against him in a police station in Mingora on the basis of a speech that he made at a public meeting at the Grassy Ground in the city on April 19, 2009 in which he declared the superior courts of the country un-Islamic and demanded enforcement of Shariah in Malakand division. His sons were not charged in the sedition case.

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India-Pakistan

Bilour renews talks offer to Sufi, says all reservations to be removed

2009-05-01

[The News (Pak)] NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Bilour on Wednesday said that chief of the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) Maulana Sufi Muhammad should talk to the government if he has any reservations over the establishment of the Darul-Daurl Qaza so that the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation be implemented accordingly. Talking to journalists at his office, the ANP parliamentary leader in the provincial assembly urged the political parties to demonstrate unity in larger national interest. Some political parties were opposing the ongoing action in Dir Lower, he said, adding, "Our government took all parties into confidence on all important issues." Bilour said that all the party leaders in the recently held all parties conference had underlined the need for discharging government affairs under the law and the Constitution. The provincial government was also acting accordingly as the government could not remain a silent spectator if somebody kills innocent children like that in Luqman Banda, Dir, he said, adding that Mufti Kifayatullah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) opposed the government action in Dir, while his leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman had cautioned the government of the advancement of the Taliban to Islamabad and had asked for proper action. Bashir Bilour said that the provincial government implemented Nizam-e-Adl by opposing the world community, including the United States, as it was the demand of the people of the Malakand Division, adding that the NWFP government was grateful to Sufi Muhammad for playing a positive role in this regard. The senior minister expressed confidence that he (Sufi Muhammad) would continue playing a constructive role. He said that the ANP believed in the philosophy of 'non-violence' and the party wished to settle the issues through dialogue. "Taliban entered Buner despite the peace deal with the government wherein it was agreed that they would not do so. The Taliban also violated the deal by displaying arms and challenging the writ of the government in Buner," he added. Bilour said that there would be investment and economic development in entire Malakand Division if normalcy returned there.

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India-Pakistan

JI wants operations in Dir, Buner stopped

2009-05-01

[The News (Pak)] Former senior minister and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) provincial chief Sirajul Haq on Wednesday said the government had launched military operations in Dir and Buner districts at the behest of the US and no political party was taken into confidence. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of JI Malakand Ameers here, he alleged the rulers were playing the role of agents of the US and the UK to get dollars. Former ministers Shah Raz Khan, Hussain Ahmed Kanju, former MNAs Fazal Subhan and Bakhtiar Maani were also present on the occasion. "We had made it clear to the government during the All Parties Conference at the Frontier House recently that there was no need for a military operation in Malakand division but despite that, security forces were sent to Buner and Dir Lower districts. Federal and provincial governments are equally responsible for the worst law and order in the country, particularly in the Fata and the NWFP," the JI leader said. The JI leader urged the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi chief to accelerate efforts for restoration of peace in the area, pledging that the JI would extend full cooperation to the movement in this connection. The JI leader also demanded of the government to halt the military operation in the Malakand division and take steps for the rehabilitation of displaced people.'

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India-Pakistan

Hoti to formally announce Nizam-e-Adl Regulation today

2009-02-16

Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad and NWFP Government have signed a joint declaration for the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in Malakand Division. The NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti is set to formally announce the implementation of Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in Malakand Division today. Meanwhile, provincial law minister Arshad Abdullah told that the regulation would be enforced only after complete restoration of peace in Malakand. "Our agreement is conditioned with peace,'' Abdullah said. 'They have to succumb to law. They have to put down their arms.'' "We hammered out a peace truce with TNSM after getting green-signal from President Asif Ali Zardari," he added. A formal announcement in this connection will be made by the Chief Minister Hoti at the Frontier House today.

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India-Pakistan

Hidden forces may exploit TNSM camp

2008-11-13

If the government kept quiet over the issue anymore, the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) protest camp could be exploited by the unseen forces that are bent upon causing chaos and uncertainty in the country. Though Maulana Sufi Muhammad-led black turban movement's activists are peaceful and their sit-in has been given the name of a 'peace camp' aimed at enforcement of Shariah in Malakand, those trying to create law and order problem might exploit the situation for bad. The sit-in entered 34th day on Wednesday, but the government response has so far been cold as no serious efforts have been made to either convince TNSM on winding up the camp or accept any of its three demands -- the government should implement the 1994 Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in letter and spirit, restore peace in Malakand, especially the restive Swat valley or admit in written to have failed to maintain peace. The release of TNSM Ameer Sufi Muhammad from jail was also an attempt on the part of the ANP-led provincial government to use his influence in ending insurgency in Swat, but that failed to pay dividends. Though the sit-in at the Rest House ground has been peaceful, with Sufi vowing to continue it even for three years in case of non-acceptance of the Tanzim demands, the 'unforeseen' forces or elements might exploit it for their designs. The recent threatening letter received by the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Timergara from unidentified elements, asking the students and teachers to observe 'pardah' or face the consequences, could be an example. The one-page letter written in Urdu stresses use of a 'special kind' of 'pardah' by wearing shuttlecock 'burqas', although the students and teachers of the school are already observing veils. The only difference is that the unidentified elements delivering the letter insist wearing 'burqas', instead of 'chadar' (shawl). The letter mentions the setting up of the TNSM 'peace camp', saying that from the very first day of the camp, students and teachers were advised to observe 'pardah' by wearing shuttlecock 'burqas' but that was not complied. Further non-compliance would not be tolerated, stated the letter, written on plain paper. It also mentions the name of 'Tehrik Taliban Lower Dir zone'.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Tribal elder escapes attempt on life

2005-07-06

PESHAWAR: Another tribal elder on Monday escaped an attempt on his life in the Bajuar tribal agency, as some elements wanted to kill prominent elders who have led an armed tribal Lashkar in May and burnt two houses owned by local clerics. "We'll teach you about that drumming!" Malik Painda Muhammad was among a few key tribal elders who had led an armed Lashkar that brunt two houses owned by two religious figures and leaders of the defunct Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammad (TNSM), Maulana Amin and Maulana Faqir Muhammad. Ummm... I think I might have a couple suspects... Sources told The News from Bajuar that Malik Painda Khan’s brand new car narrowly escaped a remote-controlled bomb explosion planted by unknown culprits on his way near Nayag village. Yup. Unknown suspects. No idea who they might be... Besides Malik Painda Khan, his two sons — Muhammad Daud and Muhammad Farooq — and a grandson whose name could not be ascertain were also travelling in the same vehicle. They were returning home after attending funeral prayers of their relation. All of them remained unhurt. His car was however reported to have been damaged in the explosion. Later, officials rushed to the troubled spot but could not make any arrest. "Nope. Nope. Can't begin to guess who mighta dunnit..."

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