Thousands of supporters on Tuesday offered a rousing welcome to freed chief of the banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) Sufi Muhammad, upon his arrival in the Sakhakot area of the Malakand division and the Maidan area of Dir district.
The supporters, wearing black turbans, a hallmark of the TNSM, organised a rally consisting of around 100 vehicles and accompanied Sufi Muhammad to his native town of Maidan, after his brief speech at the Bilal Mosque in the Aman Darra area of Sakhakot.
Brothers: “Police, army and other law-enforcing personnel are our brothers and Islam even forbids the murdering of non-Muslims,” Sufi told his supporters.
| "But go ahead and do it anyway!" |
He said the TNSM’s struggle for the implementation of Shariah law was “peaceful” and it did not support violent means. He vowed that his peaceful struggle for the implementation of the Shariah law in Malakand would continue.
Eyewitnesses said senior citizens dominated the welcome party arranged by the TNSM for its leader, who was freed under a peace deal with the provincial government in return for peace in the region. The supporters were chanting slogans in favour of Shariah law. However, they stopped short of criticising the government or any political party. Upon arrival in his native village, Sufi visited the houses of those who accompanied him to Afghanistan and were killed in fighting with US-led coalition.
Sufi Muhammad was arrested in 2001 while attempting to return from Afghanistan, where he led thousands of Muslim volunteers in the TalibanÂ’s fight against the US-backed war on terror. People fired shots in the air to express their jubilation. Sufi Muhammad announced that a meeting of the TNSMÂ’s council of elders would be held at the organisationÂ’s central office in Amandara in the next four or five days. Many people were killed in fighting with security forces following a TNSM-led uprising in Malakand division in 1994.
| Hey, he's a holy man, not a general. |
The NWFP government released Sufi Muhammad on Monday under a peace deal to restore normalcy to Swat and its adjoining areas, following an assurance from Sufi Muhammad that he and his companions would remain peaceful. Sufi MuhammadÂ’s son-in-law Mullah Fazlullah is on the run in Swat, where he was leading an insurgency for the enforcement of Shariah. He also established an illegal radio station over which he aired his fiery speeches. |