A fugitive Pakistani militant leader welcomed the release of a prominent pro-Taliban cleric, but vowed yesterday to continue an armed struggle for Islamic law in the country’s northwest despite the signing of a peace accord.
The cleric, Sufi Muhammad, was released on Monday from six years in custody. The government of North West Frontier Province said Muhammad’s group signed a pact renouncing violence in return for being allowed to peacefully campaign for Islamic law.
It was the first major step by the new government to talk peace with militants and break with US-backed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s policy of using force.
But Muslim Khan, a spokesman for Muhammad’s son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah, whose supporters battled security forces for control of the northwest’s Swat Valley last year, said the fighters allied with the wanted militant would not cease their battle.
“We welcome the release of Sufi Muhammad, but we will only lay down arms when the government would enforce Shariah,” or Islamic law, Khan said.
Pakistan’s army spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, also said that no decision had been made to withdraw the army from Swat.
Sufi Muhammad, believed to be in his seventies, sent thousands to battle the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. His group — Tehrik Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammed, or the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law — resurfaced under Fazlullah’s leadership after his arrest in 2002.
Fazlullah won a large following with firebrand preaching over an illegal FM radio station but alienated others by turning to violence.
He tapped into popular frustration over official corruption and failings in the justice system. But Fazlullah is reportedly at odds with Muhammad, and experts warned the younger militant may be unwilling to change.
A court sentenced Muhammad to three years for illegally possessing a weapon. But he remained in the government custody since then and it was only on Monday when authorities freed him and quickly signed the accord.
Under the agreement, security forces have the right to “act against” any extremists who attack the government.
Musharraf also struck truces with some groups — deals that US officials complained gave Pakistani militants as well as Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters a chance to build up strength.
TIn Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said US is “continuing to cooperate with the government of Pakistan as it seeks to confront extremism.”
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS