Radical cleric’s sermonising alarms Swat
By Sher Baz Khan
MINGORA, July 19: Sher Zaman, 65, today is a symbol of poverty in his community. Only a few years back, he was living a peaceful and respectable life with his only son Ali and son-in-law Gul Rehman. But in 2001, both men got carried away by the pro-jihad fiery speeches of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the pioneer of Tehrik Nifaze Shariat-i-Mohammedi (TNSM) and crossed over to Afghanistan to be among a Lashkar of thousands of Pakhtuns to fight the US-led coalition forces. They never came back and neither did the good old days of Mr Zaman.
Maulana Sufi had started his jihadi recruiting campaign from Dir and ended up making thousands of children orphans and as many women widowed in Swat. Mr Zaman too is among these new batches of poor people who have lost their only bread winners.
Ironically, the radical cleric himself had gone underground and was presently imprisoned at a jail in D.I. Khan. Many families, who had lost their loved ones, still scorn the TSNM leader for allegedly offering the Lashkar as sacrificial lambs at an altar instead of taking them to a battlefield.
Mr Zaman is one among thousands suffering today due to the cleric who mislead the innocent and simple-minded people.
But it seems that history is now repeating itself in the area. Maulana Sufi’s son-in-law, Mullah Fazlullah, has gained immense influence and prominence in the area, in a span of only five years.
Maulana Sufi had ousted Mullah Fazlullah from the TNSM and had disowned his acts of use of force to implement Sharia in the country. But Fazlullah, about whom the locals say is a man of little religious knowledge and anything but a scholar, has managed to brainwash the local people like his father-in-law through an illegal FM radio station.
The mullah was now issuing threats to the government of spreading widespread destruction and is believed to have masterminded at least three suicide attacks against the army and FC troops.
Mullah Fazlullah had reacted strongly to the army operation against the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, which were being run by his friends, Maulana Abdul Aziz and the late Maulana Rashid Ghazi.The people of Malakand division are living in a state of uncertainty due to the mullah’s threat of suicide attacks and the deployment of reportedly some 50,000 FC and army troops in the area – the biggest deployment after Waziristan.
The fear of collateral damage in this standoff between the army and militants of Fazlullah is so pervasive that one could find streets and markets of this city buzzing with the words ‘negotiations’ and ‘peace’ and appeals to President Musharraf to act wisely and come up with a solution different from the one opted for Lal Masjid.
“The more the army moves and manoeuvres in the area, the more it will be vulnerable to attacks which could also result in civilian causalities. So we request the government to exercise restraint,” said Fayyaz Ahmed, a local elder.
Such threats have also scared away many tourists from the area, which is a source of income for many locals. Hotels here witnessed a massive cancellation of reservations over the last few weeks due to the prevailing tension.
But the power Fazlullah enjoys did not come by in a day. Locals say the cleric has an impressive personality cult and could often be seen riding on a white horse to give the impression that he was the one who could revive the Khilafat. He had also designed special propaganda techniques to mould the opinion of Swati women, the least educated class, to his favour.
He had impressed the women so much that when he started building a Markaz (centre) in Imam Deri area, some women even donated their jewellery for the cause. He has an extraordinary persuasion power and can gather more than 30,000 people within hours for a sermon or a decree to burn down or break TV sets or simply come out with guns to challenge the writ of the government.
A large number of people believe that Fazlullah and Sufi are two heads of the single coin. They wonder how Fazlullah was able to broadcast live the interviews of Maulana Ghazi two days before the Lal Masjid operation on his illegal FM station. Some 26 illegal FM stations still operate in Swat, a majority of which belong to clerics. After the operation, the cleric had called for jihad against the government and asked for volunteers from three villages, including Koza Banda, Bara Banda and Charbagh, while he himself disappeared from the scene, claiming that his presence might encourage people to take anti-state actions.
Many locals here feel that like his late friend, Maulana Ghazi, the establishment or some foreign hand might be using Mullah Fazlullah. They also questioned the government’s intentions of allowing the radical cleric to muster so much support in the area.
Locals say the clerics had been conducting controlled explosions during the past few weeks, ahead of the military deployment in Swat. Blast sounds could be heard loudly in the night. What’s astounding is that the entire exercise was being carried out right under the nose of the local administration.
Why cannot govt Jam these illegal radio stations. It has the capability and no matter how much these Mullahs scream, no body will be able to hear them. Secondly record their sermons and let the whole country listen.
Fight them using the tools they use to fight the govt, may be kill him with a predator drone silently without making a mess of the situation like it did in Lal Mosque killing hundreds of people as collateral damage