Inside Fazlullah's headquarters

By: Rahimullah Yusufzai

Fazalullah denies links with al-Qaeda or Afghan Taliban, and argues that his only link to them is islam

Maulana Fazlullah was receiving his followers and speaking to them in Pashto in the under-construction Omar bin Khitab Mosque near the banks of river Swat when we reached his village Mamdheray. Young and old men had come from all over Swat in buses, pick-up trucks and other vehicles to greet him on the occasion of Eidul Fitr.

It was a doting group of people who laughed whenever the young Maulana made fun of the 'corrupt and inefficient' police or lambasted the government for its inability to provide security to the Swatis. He drew applause when he explained how he was forced to send his Shaheen Commando Force to fight crime, patrol villages and towns and bring killers, criminals and car-snatchers to book in the absence of the police and other law-enforcing agencies. They listened in rapt attention as he narrated the achievements of his force and claimed that the crime graph had come down since the cops gave up their duty after coming under attacks by unknown people and the government abdicated its responsibility to provide protection to the people.

The crowd wanted him to speak forever but the Maulana had to stop every time a new group of people arrived and came forward to embrace him. He gave personal attention to each new arrival and enquired after his and his family's welfare. Security was lax in the mosque, though some armed men stood guard outside and others sat in groups in the courtyard and further afar near the slow-moving river. A shop outside sold the audio-cassettes of the Maulana's speeches and Taliban tapes and did good business due to the rush of customers. A madrasa was also under construction nearby and the huge complex looked splendid from Fizzaghat, the riverside resort just outside Mingora on the main road leading to famous tourist destinations such as Madyan, Bahrain, Kalam, Bisham, Miandam and Malam Jabba. According to the Maulana's aide Sirajuddin, more than Rs 10 million had been donated by the people towards the construction of the mosque and madrasa complex.

Neatly dressed in shalwar-kameez and wearing a smart jacket, Fazlullah stood on his feet in the mosque and declined to sit down so that the crowd could see him from afar and hear him speak without any loudspeaker. His black, flowing beard testified that he was still young, only 32 as his men told us. He wore a black turban just like the Taliban. There was a slight stammer in his speech but he overcame the disability by attempting to speak loud and clear.

Talking to TNS later in a side room which served as his office and his group's headquarter, Fazlullah denied links with al-Qaeda or Afghan Taliban and argued that his only link to them was religious.

"We are all Muslims and, thus, brothers in faith. I consider Osama bin Laden a mujahid but I have never met him or the Taliban leader Mullah Omar," he stressed. "For the past two years, I also haven't met my father-in-law and Tanzim e Nifaz e Shariat-e-Mohammadi founder Maulana Sufi Mohammad. I spent 17 months with him in the Dera Ismail Khan jail and served him devoutly. But then I was freed and I haven't been able to travel outside Swat because the government would arrest me if I stepped out of my village."

Fazlullah rejected the government claims that he had set up a parallel administration by arresting people and awarding them punishment. "This is not true. We did arrest some killers, drunkards and other criminals and would have delivered them over to the police had the cops been doing their duty instead of locking themselves inside police stations for fear of an attack. The murderers are still in our custody and the seven young students who were caught drinking were released after they sought forgiveness from Allah. We gave them Rs 100 each so that they could pay for the transport and reach their homes," he said.

Admitting that some of the criminals in his custody were publicly lashed in Mamdheray, Fazlullah maintained that they were lightly whipped to warn others because these men had disguised themselves as Taliban and were robbing people and snatching vehicles.

"They were bringing a bad name to my organisation. People were complaining that my men were involved in criminal activities. I believe the lashing would serve as a deterrent to others."

Fazlullah also denied having a hand in the attempted destruction of the Buddha rock carving at Jehanabad in Manglawar village and said that non-Muslims and their religious and archaeological sites should be protected by an Islamic state.

He said that he wanted Shariah not only in Swat and the rest of the Malakand division but in the whole of Pakistan.

He conceded that he had thrice crossed over to Afghanistan in order to fight alongside the Taliban. The last time he did so was to accompany Maulana Sufi Mohammad and his 10,000 followers, in Novemeber 2001, to fight the US-led coalition forces and the Northern Alliance.