[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A sedition case was registered against the banned Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad and his nine colleagues at the Saidu Sharif police station in Swat Valley on Sunday.Sufi Muhammad, who was arrested by the NWFP government on July 27 from Peshawar along with his two young sons Rizwanullah and Ziaullah and another relative, was charged with sedition for issuing statements against the state of Pakistan and its institutions, including parliament and judiciary, during a public gathering at the Grassy Ground in Mingora on April 19.
Others named in the First Information Report (FIR) were two deceased leaders of the TNSM, Maulana Muhammad Alam and Amir Izzat Khan. They had been arrested by security forces from their organisationÃs office in Amandarra in the Malakand Agency and were killed in mysterious circumstances near Dargai while being shifted by soldiers to Peshawar.
Other TNSM activists named in the FIR include Maulana Abdul Haq, Shah Zeb, Maulana Safiullah, Maulana Bakht, Fayyaz Shah, Salar and Samiullah. It is not known if any of them is in the government custody.
District Police Officer (DPO), Swat, Sajid Khan Mohmand, confirmed the registration of the FIR and said that Sufi Muhammad was charged with sedition for instigating the general public against the state and its institutions during public gatherings after signing a peace agreement with the government.