RAWALPINDI, Jan 2: The Lahore High Court was approached on Wednesday for the registration of cases against Sufi Mohammad, amir of Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM), on charges of high treason, terrorism and abetment in murder of hundreds of innocent people in Afghanistan.

In a constitutional petition filed in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court through advocate Dr Aslam Khaki, the petitioner, Syed Liaquat Banuri, stated that Sufi Mohammad had engaged himself in such activities which were culpable offences under the laws of Pakistan.

The petitioner contended that after the attack on Afghanistan, Sufi Mohammad opposed the Pakistan government’s Afghan policy on the issue and equipped the credulous people with arms and took them to Afghanistan where two sects of Muslims were fighting against each other.

Liaquat Banuri stated that Sufi Mohammad equipped his followers with heavy weapons and developed his private army and used it for creating disturbances in Swat, Dir and blocked Karakoram Highway.

He stated that Sufi Mohammad declared Jihad without the consent of the amir of the country. He led a large number of people to Afghanistan without the permission of the state.

Sufi Mohammad, after handing over the illiterate and misguided youth to the Taliban, came back to Pakistan from a different route without taking part in Jihad himself.

The petitioner stated that under Islamic teaching a person who ran away from Jihad was liable to be punished with death. Out of those who went to Afghanistan, about 5,000 people died and the remaining either disappeared or were imprisoned.

The petitioner contended that Sufi Mohammad kept a large quantity of weapons with him which under the law of the land, was an offence triable under anti-terrorism laws.

He stated that Sufi Mohammad, along with his 30 colleagues, were proceeded under Section 40 of the Frontier Crime Rules (FCR) by the Political Agent who sentenced him to three years imprisonment only.

In view of the heinous nature of crimes committed by Sufi Mohammad and his colleagues the sentence awarded to him was a concession and an attempt to save him from the wrath of the people whose children he took to Afghanistan in the name of Jihad and left them there to face death.