July 05, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 19, 1428

KARACHI, July 4: Reacting to developments relating to Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, some radical clerics in Swat are using illegal FM radio stations to instigate an armed uprising, urging people to “prepare for jihad” and come out with weapons.

Local people, who eagerly wait for the summer tourism season to supplement their income, fear that certain militant groups might frighten away domestic and foreign tourists.

According to reports received from Swat, tension mounted in the area when a large number of people armed with rifles, Kalashnikovs and small arms, started gathering at the Madressah of Maulana Fazlullah in Imam Dehrai area soon after he announced that it was “time to go to war”.

Clerics in Malakand are increasingly using alleged radio stations to influence people and the government still appears to be reluctant to act against them. Anyone can broadcast anything in the absence of any control and legal action.

At least 25 illegal FM channels are operating in Swat district. Some of them are owned by Maulana Ahmed Ali Shah in Bara Bandai, Maulana Mohammad Alam in Fatehpur, Maulana Ali Mohammad in Kota Barikot, Maulana Khair Mohammad in Shamozo, Maulana Waliullah Afghani of Kunar in Rangila Shamozo, Maulana Mohammad Iqbal in Nagoha, Maulana Mohammad Rehan in Parlai, Maulana Safiullah in Matta, Maulana Bakht Ali in Qambar, Mohammad Essa in Sharifabad, Maulana Saeedur Rehman in Shahdara, Maulana Raza Khan in Kanju Dehrai, Maulana Shah Dauran in Qambar, Maulana Mohammad Alam in Benori Madyan and Maulana Mohammad Fahim in Drushkhela.

Some stations are operating in Shawar Matta, Shukhdara, Charbagh, Derai Kanju, upper parts of Matta tehsil but it is not known who operates them.

Maulana Fazalullah was actively trying to mobilise people and that apparently was the reason the government signed an ‘agreement’ with him about 42 days ago.

The agreement, signed by Swat DCO Syed Javed and Maulana Fazalullah on May 22, said that he would not use his FM station for anti-government propaganda and stop opposing anti-polio vaccination and women’s literacy campaigns in the area.

The signing ceremony was attended by the district nazim, provincial ministers and police officials.

But the Maulana violated the agreement within a couple of months by asking the people to prepare for jihad against those responsible for launching the Lal Masjid operation.

When this correspondent contacted Maulana Fazlullah, he said: “We did not violate the agreement; it was the government that resorted to violence against women of Jamia Hafsa.” He said thousands of his ‘mujihideen’ were ready to avenge the attack on seminary students.

He said he would praise the men, and especially women who had sent their sons to his seminary to ‘sacrifice’ their lives for the enforcement of the Shariat, adding that he would continue using his FM for “enforcing Islamic system” in the area.

In lower Dir area, there are at least 32 FM channels. Some of them are being operated from villages of Bagh Kandai, Chakdara, Bkhtiar Khan Mosque, Chakdara Chowk, Kithiari, Shah Alam Baba, Cham Kithiari, Khanpur, Ouch, Khadagzai, Badwan, Talash, different areas of Timergara, Munda, Samarbagh, Khall and Maidan.

A number of radio channels are being operated by clerics associated with religious organisation like the banned Tanzim-e-Nefazi Shariah Mohammadi (TNSM), Ishaat Tauheed Walsunah and even the Tablighi Jamaat, the Jamaat Islami and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F.

There are reports that some Afghan nationals have also set up their radio stations in refugee camps, mainly in Chakdara in lower Dir, and harshly criticising Pakistan’s foreign policy.

There are at least 10 radio stations in Malakand Agency, mostly concentrated in areas like Amandara, Thana, Alladand Dheri, Batkhela and Dargai. One FM channel is run by TNSM’s acting Amir in the Malakand area Maulana Mohammad Alam from Amandara village, former headquarters of the banned organisation.

Radio channels are also being operated in Bajaur Agency and adjacent tribal areas.

“One of the reasons for the mushrooming of illegal FM channels is said to be the policy of indifference of the MMA government in the NWFP which is not interested in taking any action in this regard,” a social worker told this correspondent from the Bara Bandai area on phone.

He said that at a number of places, clerics belonging to the MMA were also running illegal radio stations, using it as a tool to achieve their political objectives.The owner of a radio station told this correspondent that setting up a radio station which could cover an area of up to four to five kilometres, would cost only Rs5,000.