Militant foe of U.S. freed by Pakistan

Pakistan on Monday freed the founder of a militant organization whose fighters battled U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the American-led invasion in 2001.

Maulana Sufi Mohammed was freed on grounds of ill health, said local officials in the frontier city of Peshawar. His release could be an indicator that Pakistan’s new government will strike a more conciliatory tone toward Islamic militants than the previous administration.

The ruling coalition that took office last month after February’s parliamentary elections had already said it was willing to negotiate with militants who lay down their arms. The bloc is dominated by two opposition parties that outpolled the party of U.S.-backed President Pervez Musharraf.

Mohammed is the founder of the Movement for the Enforcement of the Laws of Muhammad, or Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, which advocates a system of Islamic justice for Pakistan. He is also the father-in-law of Maulana Qazi Fazlullah, a fugitive militant leader whose followers last year set up what amounted to a shadow government in the Swat valley, a picturesque former tourist destination in northwestern Pakistan.

Pakistani troops have since driven Fazlullah’s followers into the mountains. Officials in North-West Frontier Province said Mohammed’s release was linked to a truce to prevent Fazlullah’s fighters from reclaiming towns and cities in Swat.

Mohammed had been in custody since 2002, when he returned to Pakistan from Afghanistan. Last year he was transferred to a hospital in Peshawar because of various reported health complications.

Hospital officials said that soon after the order to free him was issued, men who appeared to be followers of Fazlullah turned up to escort him to an undisclosed destination.

The movement founded by Mohammed, which was revitalized under his son-in-law, advocates an austere, Taliban-style brand of Islam. Under it, educating girls is discouraged, women must wear veils and men must wear beards.

Fazlullah also ordered residents of the Swat valley to destroy their TV sets because television programs were decreed to be immoral entertainment. Thousands complied.

The militant contingent that Mohammed fielded in Pakistan after the fall of the Taliban was not an effective fighting force. Most of his men were killed or captured.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, had no immediate comment on the release of Mohammed. But American officials have been closely following the new government’s statements on how it intends to deal with insurgents who have found haven in Pakistan’s tribal regions.

The new government, led by the party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has said it will conduct a review of anti-terrorism policies, probably taking a less military-centered approach than Musharraf did.

Meanwhile, there were fresh indications that Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, might try to position himself to become prime minister. Zardari, who heads Bhutto’s party, has indicated he wants to seek a seat in parliamentary by-elections in June, which would make him eligible for the top post.

On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down a law that could have posed an obstacle for him, ruling that candidates do not have to hold a bachelor’s degree. Zardari has said he has such a degree, but Pakistani media have reported that it is unclear whether he does.

The court’s action points up a difficult question faced by Zardari and his party: whether to try to reinstate judges who were fired by Musharraf last year during a state of emergency. The restoration of the judges could open the way for legal challenges to an amnesty that Musharraf granted to Zardari and others, which in effect tossed out pending corruption charges against them. The judges appointed by Musharraf are considered unlikely to revive such cases.

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laura.king@latimes.com

Special correspondent Ali reported from Peshawar and Times staff writer King from Istanbul, Turkey.