Pak frees Taliban chief's father-in-law from jail after 8 yrs

Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the founder of a banned militant outfit and the father-in-law of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Mullah Fazlullah, was today released from jail eight years after his imprisonment in 2009.
The Peshawar High Court had ordered his release last week after accepting the octogenarian cleric's bail application due to his deteriorating health condition.
Sufi Muhammad, the founder of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat- e-Mohammadi (TNSM), was arrested in 2009 for hate speech against the government. He has been in jail since his arrest.
Swat police had booked the TNSM chief for hate speech against the government in 2009.
In that speech, Sufi Muhammad had termed the Constitution "un-Islamic" and demanded enforcement of the Sharia law.

At the time of his arrest, the TNSM chief was exercising much influence and had even stopped regular courts from functioning in Malakand, especially Swat.
According to local media reports, a number of cases were registered against Sufi Muhammad. However, in each case, witnesses against him had either died or could not be traced.