October 13, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 13, 1429

TIMERGARA, Oct 12: A sit-in, held here by the Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) continued for the fourth day on Sunday.

The TNSM is demanding practical enforcement of Shariah in the Malakand region. So far several rounds of negotiations between the ruling Awami National Party (ANP) and the TNSM leaders have been held to convince the latter’s chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad to end the sit-in but to no avail.

The TNSM has again rejected the proposed official draft of Nizam-i-Adl Regulation 2008, when its chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad announced that the protest would continue until the government enforced Sharia law in the Malakand region and the districts of Hazara and Kohistan.

Talking to Dawn in the camp on Sunday, Sufi Mohammad said the proposed official draft was not the ‘sharia’ law as ‘it was not according to the Quran and ‘Sunnah’. When asked about his own draft, he claimed it was no more needed in written form as it was present in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.

The TNSM chief said the Dir DCO and the DPO and the ANP’s district leaders had contacted him so far and talked to the TNSM’s shura but he was not satisfied with them. He vowed to continue their protest till enforcement of Shariah and restoration of peace in the region as according to him the people were fed up with bloodshed and lawlessness and wanted durable peace.