December 3, 2001	Monday	Ramazan 17, 1422

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MINGORA, Dec 2: The people of the Malakand Division have formed an alliance, Muslims and Pakhtoon Bachao Tehrik (movement for the protection of the Muslims and the Pakhtoons), which has threatened to hold Afghan refugees hostage here if the Northern Alliance refuses to release the prisoners of war in Afghanistan.

The alliance is mainly headed by Tehrik Nefaz-i-Shariah Muhammadi leaders (TNSM), but they have avoided to call it a movement of the TNSM.

Speaking at a press conference at the Swat Press Club on Thursday evening, Malik Abdul Aziz, alias Kamar Malik, Haji Gul Zada Malik, Maujlvi Liaquat and Sher Bahadur Maulvi (all hailing from the Bajuar Agency) condemned the Northern Alliance for torturing and killing war prisoners.

The leaders, flanked by Malik Mehmood Jan, commander of the TNSM for leading the Mujahideen into Afghanistan; TNSM acting chief Maulana Hamdillah and Malik Nagotal, asked the leaders of different factions in Afghanistan to ensure safe return of the prisoners belonging to Pakistan and Arab countries.

They observed that the war had been imposed on the Afghan people by the US and its allies in order to weaken the Muslims, particularly the Pakhtoons, but the people would foil such attempts of Zionist forces.

They warned that if the prisoners were not returned safely to their respective countries, the people of the Malakand Division would be forced to take revenge from the Afghan refugees living in different areas of Pakistan.

They said it would then be turned into a clash between the Pakhtoons and the Persian-speaking people, and added that it would be a great tragedy, because the forces led by the United States would take advantage of it.

They said about 1,050 workers of the TNSM were still in the custody of the Northern Alliance.