PESHAWAR:
A police officer has reportedly recorded his statement as a witness in a sedition case against Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), who has been accused of allegedly delivering an anti-government speech in Lower Dir in 2009.
The witness, Super-intendent (SI) Shah Jee, recorded his statement on Saturday at Central Prison Peshawar. According to Shah, he was posted as an SI at TImergara police station and was present when Sufi Muhammad addressed a rally in Rest House Ground and termed the government of the time ‘un-Islamic’.
Shah further added that Maulana stated how religious scholars were not raising their voice against the system.
Sufi Muhammad’s counsel Adil Majeed submitted an application to transfer the sedition case from the anti-terrorism court to a regular one.
He contended that the case was filed under Section 23 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, but the offence the cleric is accused of does not fall under the ambit of terrorism offences.
Maulana was detained by security forces during the Swat military operation. A total of 13 cases were registered against him: murder, treason, arson and sedition.
Due to security concerns in Malakand and Swat, he was shifted to Central Prison Peshawar in 2009.
In November last year, an ATC acquitted him in two terrorism cases. The first was registered for allegedly attacking a police station in Khwazakhela, Swat with several of his accomplices. The attack left a policeman dead and the building damaged.The second case was registered after he and his supporters allegedly attacked a Frontier Corps convoy in 1995 in the jurisdiction of the same police station. The assault left one soldier dead and several others injured.
Maulana Sufi Muhammad is the father-in-law of the chief of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Mullah Fazlullah. He is known for trying to impose Shariah by force in Swat and Malakand and sending volunteers to fight against the US forces in Afghanistan in 2001.
