Conviction: Sufi Muhammad indicted in MPA’s murder
Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi chief, associates deny charges.
PESHAWAR:
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) indicted on Monday Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad and dozens of his activists for the murder of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Badiuzzaman.
The octogenarian chief and his co-accused denied the charges during the trial held at the Peshawar Central Prison, according to sources. The Mingora police had registered the first information report (FIR) of the lawmaker’s murder against the TNSM chief and his associates. Badiuzzaman, a PPP MPA from Shangla, a part of Swat district at the time, was killed in November 1994, when the TNSM was waging a war against the state on the pretext of enforcing Shariah in the region.
Badiuzzaman was intercepted near Odigram, Swat, on the way to Buner, where he was to attend a political gathering. Held hostage at a hotel, according to eyewitness accounts, he was shot by a man armed with a pistol who entered the room where TNSM members were engaged in talks with him. One of the MPA’s guards killed the murderer in retaliation. However, the motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained.
Justice Asim Imam of the ATC was conducting the trial in Swat, but due to security concerns and Sufi Muhammad’s incarceration in the central prison, the court shifted to Peshawar. The judge has fixed the next hearing for December 12.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2011.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) indicted on Monday Tehreek-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad and dozens of his activists for the murder of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Badiuzzaman.
The octogenarian chief and his co-accused denied the charges during the trial held at the Peshawar Central Prison, according to sources. The Mingora police had registered the first information report (FIR) of the lawmaker’s murder against the TNSM chief and his associates. Badiuzzaman, a PPP MPA from Shangla, a part of Swat district at the time, was killed in November 1994, when the TNSM was waging a war against the state on the pretext of enforcing Shariah in the region.
Badiuzzaman was intercepted near Odigram, Swat, on the way to Buner, where he was to attend a political gathering. Held hostage at a hotel, according to eyewitness accounts, he was shot by a man armed with a pistol who entered the room where TNSM members were engaged in talks with him. One of the MPA’s guards killed the murderer in retaliation. However, the motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained.
Justice Asim Imam of the ATC was conducting the trial in Swat, but due to security concerns and Sufi Muhammad’s incarceration in the central prison, the court shifted to Peshawar. The judge has fixed the next hearing for December 12.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2011.