PESHAWAR, July 31: Followers of Haji Sahib Turangzai have asked “mysterious, armed and hooded occupants” of the Turangzai mosque-mausoleum complex in Ghaziabad, Mohmand Agency, to immediately vacate the premises.

Speaking at a press conference at the press club here on Tuesday, Khushhal Khan Bacha, caretaker of the complex, said famous freedom fighter Haji Abdul Wahab, popularly known as Haji Sahib Turangzai, had fought more than 25 battles against the British, but had never occupied any place of worship to advance his political agenda.

He said the disciples of Haji Sahib were angry over the occupation of the mausoleum by the armed men calling themselves Taliban. He asked the occupants to vacate the complex.

Pakistan Muslim League-N leader and former provincial minister Abdus Subhan Khan, Anjuman Ahl-i-Sunnat wal Jamaat leader Abdul Hadi Zaheer and Faizul Bari were also present.

Later, Talking to Dawn, Khushhal Bacha said Haji Sahib was a social reformer too and had brought a pleasant change in the lives of the Pukhtuns, freeing them from age-old superstitions and customs. He had opposed objectionable and unwanted rituals.

He said over 60 armed men occupied the mosque at 2am on Sunday. He said when the faithful entered the mosque for morning prayers, they were confronted with the armed men who called themselves Taliban.

“The local Taliban never hid their identity. We don’t know who they are, but we have constituted a jirga of elders to talk to them. We don’t want any bloodshed. We have asked authorities to sort out the issue peacefully,” he said.

He said the mausoleum of Haji Sahib could not be made a replica of Lal Masjid, which had a gory story of ignorance and stubbornness. He said Haji Sahib had established 120 schools and spread the light of Islam and also of worldly science across the Pukhtun villages, but had never asked them to take up arms. He had fought against the British, not against his own people.

He said Haji Sahib had migrated from Charsadda to Mohmand Agency in 1914, settled down in Ghaziabad and made it his base camp for his guerrilla warfare against the British.

He said Haji Sahib’s descendants and followers had built his mausoleum and mosque in 1979. He said the British rulers had bombed Ghaziabad thrice. Later, the military regime of Ayub Khan, too, bombed it.

Dr Nasir and Masood Bacha, two of Haji Sahib’s descendants, still lived in the area, he added.

Abdus Subhan said the occupants were not Taliban (seekers of knowledge), but ‘Ghasiban’. They were toeing the political agenda of some other forces, which were afraid of the masses, he said.