A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release from detention of three sons of hardline cleric Sufi Mohammad, who was arrested last month for his links to the Taliban in Swat, saying the authorities failed to provide 'sufficient proof' of their involvement in acts of terrorism.
A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release from detention of three sons of hardline cleric Sufi Mohammad, who was arrested last month for his links to the Taliban in Swat, saying the authorities failed to provide 'sufficient proof' of their involvement in acts of terrorism.
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The Peshawar High Court accepted a petition from Mohammad's sons – Rizwanullah, Hayatullah, and Ziaullah – challenging their detention.
It granted bail to them and ordered that they should be released from prison if no other cases were pending against them. The court noted that the government of the North West Frontier Province had not given 'sufficient proof' of the three men's involvement in acts of terrorism.
The three men were arrested along with their father, the head of the banned Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Mohammadi, from their residence in Peshawar on July 22. They were later sent to prison under the provision of the Maintenance of Public Order law, which allows people to be detained without charges being filed against them.
Police in Swat have booked Sufi Mohammad under the Anti-Terrorism Act and other laws for his links with Taliban fighters led by his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah. He has also been charged with treason.
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.
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