Sufi Mohammad 'mysteriously' resurfaces in Peshawar

Peshawar, July 7 (ANI): After being mysteriously missing for the past two months, the Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad has reportedly resurfaced.

A close relative of Sufi Mohammad, Bakht Wahid, claimed that the TNSM chief has arrived here along with his family, but refused to comment on his whereabouts.

Wahid also refused to disclose where Sufi Mohammad would be staying in Peshawar.

"We don't know where Maulana Sufi and his family were detained," The Dawn quoted Wahid, as saying.

Mohammad's son, Rizwanullah also called media houses and said that his father has been released, but he too refused to divulge much detail.

However, the government has said that it has no knowledge about Mohammad's whereabouts, and don't know much about his release.

"We were neither privy to his arrest nor are we privy to his release," a government official said.

According to sources, Mohammad and his family members were taken into protective custody just before the government launched a military offensive against the Taliban and other extremists in the North West Frontier Province's (NWFP) Swat and Malakand Divisions.

Mohammad and his 12 family members had moved to Mirpur, in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), where security agencies had taken them into custody, and shifted them to an undisclosed location, sources added.

It may be noted that Pakistan government had released the 80 year old TNSM chief to strike a peace deal with the Taliban, but the government's attempt failed to yield the desired results, and he went missing days before a full fledged military operation was initiated in the region. (ANI)