Pak cleric who fought US forces in Afghanistan dies

Maulana Sufi Muhammad, a radical Pakistani cleric who fought against international forces in Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion, died here on Thursday, his family said.

Muhammad, 92, was father-in-law of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Maulana Fazlullah.

He also founded a terror group, Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), with an aim to enforce Sharia law in Pakistan in 1992. The militant group took over much of Swat in 2007, despite being banned by former Pakistan President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in January 2002.

He will be buried at his village Lal qila Maidan of Lower Dir District in northwest Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province later in the evening, they said.

The cleric was arrested by the Swat police for his hate speeches against the government in 2009, following his return from Afghanistan.

In his speech, Muhammad had termed the Pakistan Constitution "un-Islamic" and demanded enforcement of the Sharia law.

He was released from jail in January 2018 on health grounds.

The TNSM chief had been imprisoned since his arrest when the final phase of a military operation against militants was launched in the Malakand region.

A number of cases were registered against Sufi Muhammad; however, in each case, witnesses against him had either died or could not be traced.

Successive governments also did not adopt a uniform policy towards him, which can be termed as a reason for his non-conviction in cases registered against him.

A large number of police personnel have been deployed at his home and funeral site to avoid the possibility of any violence, SHO Lal Qila Tauheed Khan said.