Charge-sheeted: ATC indicts Sufi Muhammad in sedition case

Mullah Fazlullah’s father-in-law has already been acquitted in 10 cases

PESHAWAR:

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has indicted Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of the banned Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM), in a sedition case. The cleric, who is also father-in-law of Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah, had delivered an anti-government speech at the Timergara Rest House, in Lower Dir district, in 2009. He had called the democratically elected government ‘un-Islamic’.

In all, 13 cases had been registered against Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who had led a movement for the enforcement of his own version of Sharia in the region. However, he has been acquitted in 10 cases while three are pending.

On Saturday, the ATC formally charged Sufi with sedition inside Peshawar’s Central Jail, where he has been incarcerated since July 2009. Hearing of the charges will formally begin on February 21 when witnesses would be presented before the court. Sufi was shifted to the Peshawar Central Jail due to security concerns in Malakand, particularly in Swat.

“The accused was indicted for delivering an anti-state speech along with his two sons and three accomplices,” Adil Majeed, the counsel of Sufi, told The Express Tribune.

He added that the police have inserted Section 153-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and 11-F3 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 in the FIR. Section 153-A deals with promoting enmity between different groups, creating disharmony, hatred and ill-will between different religious, racial, linguistic or regional groups, castes or communities, while Section 11-F3 deals with the meeting or gathering of a proscribed organisation.

Sufi denied all the charges.

The K-P government has shortlisted 423 cases to be tried in the military courts. The list that also features the names of Sufi and Fazlullah has been sent to the federal interior ministry for consideration.

On 17 December 2014, the court had dismissed a plea for acquittal of Sufi and his accomplices in a case involving an armed attack on the Kabal police station in Swat. The hearing was adjourned till February 14, 2015. The police station staff had registered a case against Sufi along with 800 unidentified men under different sections of the PPC and ATA. Other cases were related to his anti-state speeches.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2015.