Sufi Mohammad calls Taliban apostates who deserve death penalty

The chief of the banned outfit Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM) and Deobandi cleric Sufi Mohammad has finally admitted that Islam prohibits waging war against the Pakistan Army or killing any person who recites the Kalima. This statement is his departure from his ideology of violence that he pursued in past.

In an interview to a private news channel, the ailing 93-year-old cleric said the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) possess all signs of being apostates (Khawarij) and that the only punishment TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah deserves is the death penalty. Fazalullah is his son-in-law.
He also said that the country would have been divided if it was not for the Pakistan Army, whose soldiers are like Mujahideen (holy warriors).
Earlier this month, the Peshawar High Court accepted Sufi Mohammad’s bail plea and after his lawyer pleaded for his release as he had served a long time in prison despite his old age and deteriorating health condition.
This was his first interview to the media after his release.
Sufi Mohammad is the father-in-law of Mullah Fazlullah, the fugitive head of the banned TTP who has waged war against Pakistan and is the country’s most-wanted terrorist.
Further criticizing the activities of the TTP, Sufi Mohammad said that it is strictly prohibited in Islam to kill women and children, and that those responsible for the massacre of children at the Army Public School in Peshawar were worse than infidels.
He also regretted the 2012 terrorist attack on Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousufzai, saying she was a child and should not have been attacked, and added that he is not opposed to education of children. The TSNM chief also added that he had raised awareness in writing regarding permission for children’s education.
Sufi Mohammad, who belongs to Maidan in Lower Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is facing trial in at least two cases registered in Swat district including one in 2009 and another in 1995. He has been accused of committing sedition, waging war against Pakistan, and several other offences, and has previously termed the government, the Constitution of Pakistan, and the judicial system un-Islamic.
In the first case, the TNSM chief was charged under Sections 120-B (hatching criminal conspiracy), 121-A (waging war against Pakistan), 124-A (sedition), 148 and 149 (rioting) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The other case was registered at Swat’s Kabal Police Station in June 1995 when Sufi Muhammad and his supporters tried to impose ‘Shariah’ in Malakand division with force. He was charged under Sections 121 and 121-A (war against Pakistan), 324 (attempted murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), and 353 (obstructing public servant) of the IPC.