Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi
Encyclopedia
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
group whose objective is to enforce Sharia law in the country. The rebel group took over much of Swat
Swat (Pakistan)
Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, located close to the Afghan-Pakistan border. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora...
in 2007. It was founded by Sufi Muhammad
Sufi Muhammad
Sufi Muhammad bin Alhazrat Hassan, born in Dir, is the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi , a Pakistani militant organisation with Wahabi and Deobandi learnings vying for implementation of Sharia in Pakistan. It operates mainly in the Dir, Swat, and Malakand districts of...
in 1992, and was banned by President Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
on January 12, 2002.
The organization is active in the areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
border, especially Swat
Swat (Pakistan)
Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, located close to the Afghan-Pakistan border. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora...
and Malakand
Malakand District
Malakand District is a district of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.The District was formed in 1970 as a Provincially Administered Tribal Area, It had previously been a Tribal Area known as the Malakand Protected Area, part of the Malakand Agency...
but including Dargai
Dargai
Dargai is an administrative area of the Malakand District in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, located on the main highway from Peshawar to Swat, Dir and Chitral...
and Chenagai. It supports the Taliban forces in neighbouring Afghanistan. It has been described as "one of the most dangerous religious militant groups in Pakistan." When the founder was imprisoned on January 15, 2002, Maulana Fazlullah
Maulana Fazlullah
Maulana Fazlullah, nicknamed the "Radio Mullah" or "Mullah Radio", is the leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi , a banned Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban, that aims to enforce Sharia in the country...
, his son-in-law, assumed leadership of the group. Sufi Muhammed was freed in 2008 after he renounced violence.
Characteristics
TNSM militia members are "identified by their shoulder-length hair and camouflage vests over traditional shalwar kameezShalwar kameez
Shalwar kameez — or salwar kameez or shalwar qameez — is a traditional dress worn by both women and men in South Asia and Central Asia. Shalwar or salwar are loose pajama-like trousers. The legs are wide at the top, and narrow at the ankle. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic...
clothing", according to a 2007 Associated Press report. Numerous non-native militants have been recruited to work with the group from elsewhere in North Waziristan
North Waziristan
North Waziristan is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering . Waziristan comprises the area west and south-west of Peshawar between the Tochi river to the north and the Gomal river to the south, forming part of Pakistan's...
, many of them originally from outside Pakistan, including Afghans and Arabs.
Enforcement of Sharia
As part of what it sees as enforcement of Sharia law, the group has bombed girls schools and blown up video and CD shops. Fazlullah has also used his FM broadcasts to urge schoolgirls to wear all-covering burqas and has forced the closure of some development organizations, accusing them of spreading immorality by employing female staff.Origins
The group was founded by Sufi MuhammadSufi Muhammad
Sufi Muhammad bin Alhazrat Hassan, born in Dir, is the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi , a Pakistani militant organisation with Wahabi and Deobandi learnings vying for implementation of Sharia in Pakistan. It operates mainly in the Dir, Swat, and Malakand districts of...
in 1992 after he left Jamaat-e-Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami
This article is about Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. For other organizations of similar name see Jamaat-e-Islami The Jamaat-e-Islami , is a Pro-Muslim political party in Pakistan...
, in which he was an active leader.
1994 Malakand Division Revolt
Sufi Muhammad fomented an insurrection in Malakand Division (Dir, Swat, Bajaur, Chitral) on the basis of a demand for Sharia law. The uprising was quashed by the Pakistan military but not before TNSM had brought the Dir and Swat under its control. Timergara was besieged by government artillery and fighting was particularly intense in Swat.It is alleged that while under TNSM control, drivers were forced to switch to driving on the right side of the road, which resulted in many accidents.
2001 - 2002
Sufi Muhammad was jailed in November for sending thousands of volunteers to Afghanistan to fight the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. During his imprisonment, Muhammad's son-in-law Maulana FazlullahMaulana Fazlullah
Maulana Fazlullah, nicknamed the "Radio Mullah" or "Mullah Radio", is the leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi , a banned Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban, that aims to enforce Sharia in the country...
, known as "Mullah Radio" for his pirate FM station broadcasts, led TNSM.
President Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
banned the group on January 12, 2002.
2005
After a brief decline, the group experienced a revival in the aftermath of the October 2005 earthquake2005 Kashmir earthquake
The 2005 Kashmir earthquake was a major earthquake centered in Pakistan-administered Kashmir known as Azad Kashmir, near the city of Muzaffarabad, affecting Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It occurred at 08:52:37 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October 2005...
. Radio broadcasts reinforced local beliefs that the earthquake was a punishment for sins, and local inhabitants of the region destroyed electronic equipment, such as televisions and computers, in response.
2007
In July 2007, the group took over much of the Swat District and held on to it as late as November, when Pakistani forces ousted Maulana FazlullahMaulana Fazlullah
Maulana Fazlullah, nicknamed the "Radio Mullah" or "Mullah Radio", is the leader of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi , a banned Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban, that aims to enforce Sharia in the country...
and his followers from a large base in the village of Imam Dheri.
The stronghold, eight kilometres from the valley's main town of Mingora in Kabal Union Council
Union Councils of Pakistan
A sherwan or village council in Pakistan is an elected local government body consisting of 21 councillors, and headed by a nazim and a naib nazim...
of northwestern Swat, was guarded by about 200 rebel fighters.
An Associated Press reporter who visited the base in October 2007 described it as a concrete complex near the village. "Inside is a mosque and a maze of dozens of rooms, many still under construction. A shop sells audio cassettes of speeches by Fazlullah." Although the seminary hadn't opened for students, it was drawing thousands of worshippers for Friday prayers, residents told the Associated Press. Fazlullah's spokesman, Sirajuddin, then based at the seminary, is a gray-bearded militant who goes by only one name.
About 250 militants died in two weeks of fighting in late November, during which the two-square-kilometer base was bombarded by artillery, according to Pakistani authorities. People in a number of towns destroyed the fortified bunkers the rebels, including Fazlullah and Sirajuddin, had left behind as the militants retreated into the mountains.
Collaboration with the TTP
In the aftermath of the 2007 siege of Lal MasjidSiege of Lal Masjid
The siege of Lal Masjid was a confrontation in July 2007 between Islamic fundamentalist militants and the Government of Pakistan led by General Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz Administration, then Prime minister of Pakistan...
, Fazlullah's forces and Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan . He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S...
's Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. Most, but not all, Pakistani Taliban groups coalesce under the TTP...
(TTP) formed an alliance. Fazlullah and his army reportedly received orders from Mehsud.
Attacks on Buddhist sculptures
On October 8, 2007 members of the TNSM group used dynamite to obliterate the face of the 23 foot high colossal image of a seated BuddhaGautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
carved in c. 7th century CE into a reddish rock face on a hillside to the southwest of the village of Jehanabad (Shakhorai) near Manglawar in Swat district
Swat (Pakistan)
Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, located close to the Afghan-Pakistan border. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora...
. According to Aqleem Khan, an archaeology department official of North Western Frontier Province who spoke to Reuters, the members of this group drilled holes into the rock, filled them with dynamite, then set off the explosion on October 9, 2007 morning.
2008
Sufi Muhammad was released after he renounced violence in discussion with the provincial government. Eight leaders of TNSM signed a peace agreement that recognized the provincial government's sovereignty, urged an end to violence and declared attacks against police, military and government targets "un-Islamic."2009
As of January 2009 Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi had established Shariah courts, that "openly administer punishment to people who dared to violate their strict code of conduct" in a region extending from "from Matta sub-division in upper Swat valley to Kabal sub-division close the main Mingora town."Campaign Against Female Education
A January 21, 2009 issue of the Pakistan daily newspaper The News, reported Taliban enforcement of a complete ban on female education in the Swat district. Some 400 private schools enrolling 40,000 girls were forced to close. At least 10 girls schools that tried to open after the January 15, 2009 deadline by the Fazlullah-led Taliban were destroyed by the militants in the town of Mingora, the headquarters of the Swat district. Over the past 14 months "more than 170 schools have been bombed or torched, along with other government-owned buildings."Maulvi Omar
Maulvi Omar
Maulvi Said Muhammad, better known as Maulvi Omar or Maulvi Umar, is a senior Taliban commander who was captured by the Pakistani security forces in August 2009. Omar, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan , was a close associate of Baitullah Mehsud...
, a spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. Most, but not all, Pakistani Taliban groups coalesce under the TTP...
(TTP), urged the Fazlullah-led Swati Taliban to rethink the ban on female education. Muslim Khan, a spokesman for the Swati Taliban responded that the TTP had not formally requested an overturn of the ban and that his group would continue as planned. However, Khan announced in a phone call to the Gulf News
Gulf News
Gulf News is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates with a December 2009 BPA audited circulation of over 117,036 qualified copies...
on January 28, 2009 that his group would reconsider the ban on education for women in consultation with religious scholars once conflict had ended in the area. He stated, "We are not against education, but we insist that our new generation should be imparted with religious and then scientific and technology education. The Taliban need doctors, engineers and scientists to strengthen our cause." This is also being noticed now that taliban have began to target Pakistani scientists and engineers of the strategic organizations.
Sharia Nizam-i-Adl Regulation 2009
The Pakistani government announced on February 16, 2009 that it would allow Sharia lawNizam-e-Adl Regulation 2009
The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation was a controversial act, passed on April 13, 2009, of Pakistan's central government that formally established Sharia law in the Malakand division.-Background:...
in the Malakand region. In return, Fazlullah's followers agreed to observe a ceasefire negotiated by Sufi Muhammad. On February 24, 2009 Muslim Khan publicly announced that the Swati Taliban would observe an indefinite ceasefire.
Reactions to Ceasefire
- NATO feared that the agreement would only serve to allow militants to regroup and to create a safe haven for cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
- Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
expressed concern that the agreement would legitimize human rights abuses in the region.
End of Negotiations
In early April 2009 Sufi Muhammad ended support for peace negotiations stating that the government had stalled the implementation of sharia courts in the Swat valley. President Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari is the 11th and current President of Pakistan and the Co-Chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party . He is also the widower of Benazir Bhutto, who served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister....
refused to sign any agreement until peace had been restored in the valley but failed to elaborate on how those conditions would be achieved. At the strong recommendation of the National Assembly
National Assembly of Pakistan
The National Assembly of Pakistan is the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura, which also compromises the President of Pakistan and Senate . The National Assembly and the Senate both convene at Parliament House in Islamabad...
President Zardari signed the agreement, the Sharia Nizam-i-Adl Regulation 2009, on April 13, 2009. A spokesman for Sufi Muhammad, Amir Izzat Khan, stated that the law would allow for peace in the Swat region and that the Taliban was in the process of disarmament. Muslim Khan
Muslim Khan
Muslim Khan was a spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan of Swat. He was born in Kabal Tehsil of Swat.In an interview with New England Foundation for the Arts, when asked about his usage of American-styled English and pronunciation, he revealed that he had lived for some time in Boston...
added that an "Islamic syllabus" would be instituted in schools and that women would not be allowed to go to jobs or to markets so as not to become "show-pieces."