Delawar Jan
PESHAWAR: The jailed chief of the proscribed Tanzim
Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammad (TNSM) Maulana Sufi Muhammad was rushed to the Lady
Reading Hospital the other day after he complained of pain in his urinary
system and knees, hospital sources said.
The aged cleric was brought to the LHR in strict
security and was escorted back to the Central Prison Peshawar, where he has been
incarcerated for four years, after treatment. Sources said shifting of Sufi
Muhammad was kept secret and even the hospital administration did not know about
it. According to sources, his health problems deteriorated in jail and doctors
there advised that he should be taken to LHR for treatment.
They said the jail officials wanted him admitted in
the hospital but doctors refused because it could become a security threat to
the hospital. Besides being the founding chief of the TNSM, he is the
father-in-law of the reclusive Maulana Fazlullah, a militant commander who held
sway in Swat and other districts for two years from mid-2007 to mid-2009. He is
now hiding in Afghanistan’s Kunar province and is responsible for deadly cross
border attacks.
The sources said doctors also disagreed to keep him in
the hospital because his condition was not so serious and his treatment could
be continued in jail.
“He was brought to the general OPD where doctors on
duty treated him,” an official of the LHR said, requesting anonymity due to the
sensitivity of the matter. “He was complaining of problem in urine and pain in
knees,” he added.
The octogenarian Sufi Muhammad has a frail body. He
was operated for prostate in March 2008 when he was languishing jail on charges
of taking thousands of armed volunteers to Afghanistan in 2001 to fight against
the US.
The LHR official said a surgical doctor advised him
ultrasound for his urinary pain. “There was some problem in his urinary system
and the doctor prescribed him medicines for one month. He will be checked again
after one month,” the official said.
An orthopedic specialist examined his knees and took
an X-ray of knees. He advised him physiotherapy for a month and prescribed some
medicines for the same period. “He looked fine,” the official said when asked
whether his health has deteriorated.
Sufi Muhammad has been facing court trials on
charges of treason. He was arrested in April 2009 when he spoke against
democracy, the constitution and superior courts at a rally meant to bring
peace. Sufi Muhammad struck an agreement with the Awami National Party-led
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and secured his release in April 2008. He took
upon himself the responsibility to persuade his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah,
Taliban commander in Swat, to lay down arms in return for the implementation of
‘Shariah.’
Sufi Muhammad encamped in Timergara, Lower Dir’s
headquarters, and pressured the government to announce implementation of
‘Shariah.’ In Feb 2009, the government agreed to accept his demand after which
he ended his peaceful protest in Timergara and went to Swat to talk Taliban out
of the fighting. He led peace rallies in Swat but could not succeed in bringing
calm to the valley. On his failure, the government launched military operations
in his native Lower Dir, Swat and Buner simultaneously. One of his sons,
Kifayatullah, was killed during the offensive and several others were arrested
along with Sufi Muhammad.
The cleric has already languished jail for 11 years
on charges of terrorism and treason. His TNSM, founded in 1989, was outlawed in
2002.
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