Pro-Taliban Pakistani cleric walks out of jail

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): A pro-Taliban Pakistani militant leader has walked out of the Peshawar Central Prison after imprisonment of more than eight years.

Maulana Sufi Mohammad, head of the outlawed Tehreek Nifaz-i-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM), was released on the basis of a recent verdict of the Peshawar High Court.

A single-member of PHC had granted bail on Jan 8 to Sufi Mohammad in two cases registered in Swat district for sedition, waging war against Pakistan and several other offences.

However, the TNSM chief’s immediate release was blocked by some error in the bail orders issued by the court. Mohammad’s lawyer then filed an application for the rectification of the error in the date of registration of one of the two cases.

Following the correction of the release order, he was released. Mohammad — the father-in-law of banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan chief Maulvi Fazlullah — was handed over to his sons.

One of the cleric’s sons, Farooqi, told journalists Mohammad had been shifted to a private guesthouse. A decision on whether or not to take the cleric to his village in Dir will be taken based on advice from doctors.

Mohammad had been arrested in Kurram Agency on Nov 20, 2001 when he was returning from Afghanistan against US forces.

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