PESHAWAR, Nov 21: An anti-terrorism court here on Monday indicted the imprisoned chief of proscribed Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM), Maulana Sufi Mohammad, and several others for the murder of an MPA of Pakistan People's Party in 1994.Maulana Sufi Mohammad and other accused persons pleaded not guilty to the offence and decided to stand trial following which the court fixed Dec 12 for the next hearing and also summoned the prosecution witnesses.

Due to security concerns the judge of anti-terrorism court, Swat, Asim Imam, has been conducting proceedings against Maulana Sufi Mohammad and others inside the Peshawar Central Prison in several cases mostly pertaining to 1994-95.

The MPA, Badiuzzaman Khan, hailing from Shangla, was killed on Nov 3, 1994, in the jurisdiction of Mingora police station. The deceased was going to Buner to attend a party meeting when TNSM members allegedly stopped him near Odigram in Mingora and asked him to remove the party flag from his vehicle. At that time the activists of TNSM had occupied several government installations in Swat.

He allegedly refused to follow their directives and was taken to Abasin Hotel in Mingora. Negotiations were in progress at the hotel when a person fired at the MPA which resulted in his death.

Interestingly, Maulana Sufi had mostly remained behind bars during the last decade but the successive governments did not try him in several cases.

Initially, he was arrested in Kurram Agency in Dec 2001 on his returning back to Pakistan from Afghanistan where he had gone to fight the American forces.