KOHAT, Nov 16: The border militia, acting on the instructions of the interior ministry, pushed back the chief of Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi(TNSM) Maulana Sufi Mohammad who wanted to forcibly cross into Pakistan from the border along the Kurram Agency along with his 30 armed men with dozens of rocket launchers, machineguns and Kalashnikovs on Thursday evening.
According to authorities in the Kurram Agency Sufi Mohammad tried to enter Pakistan on Thursday night after fleeing Kabul when the forces of Northern Alliance occupied most of the central, eastern and western parts of Afghanistan during the last three days.
He had led a group of armed tribesmen to Afghanistan from the Bajaur Agency to join the Taliban forces to fight against the Northern Alliance and the US forces.
He was reported missing inside Afghanistan after Northern Alliance forces captured Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul. However, he reached the Kurram border on Thursday night after leaving Kabul along with men and arms and made an attempt to cross into Pakistan.
Official sources said that he tried to cross from Kurram Agency because earlier there were no harsh restrictions on the movement of people across the border from here as compared to Torkham in the NWFP and Chaman in Balochistan.
But under the fresh instructions from the interior ministry nobody, both Afghans and Pakistanis who had gone to Afghanistan to participate in fighting against Northern Alliance in violation of the government reminders and who now wanted to come into Pakistan, should not be allowed even if they possessed legal and valid entry documents.
The assistant political agent of the lower Kurram Agency, Wakil Khan who had been negotiating with the Maulana and trying to persuade him to first surrender the heavy arms before his case could be discussed with the high-ups in Islamabad, said he was awaiting fresh instructions on the issue.
He said that Sufi Mohammad was adamant that he should be allowed to go to Malakand along with his 30 men, including the heavy machineguns and ammunition worth millions of dollars. The APA said that if Maulana travels from Kurram to Malakand he would certainly pass through Kohat, Peshawar and Mardan where there was a strict ban on carrying of all sorts of weapons both legal and illegal. His demands could not be met and they were rather unjustified.
He remarked: “this is the difference between Afghanistan and Pakistan and we have to follow the instructions of our government and enforce laws.” They said they could not allow the Maulana to cross into Pakistan as they had crossed into Afghanistan illegally, also bringing a bad name to the country providing a chance to the western media to telecast reports that Pakistan was involved in helping Taliban and Osama bin Laden.
