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.”
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