Sufi Muhammad being produced in court today

PESHAWAR: Maulana Sufi Muhammad is being produced before an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) today to face charges of sedition, conspiring against the state and encouraging terrorism.

The septuagenarian chief of the banned Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) is appearing before the court of Asim Imam in Swat, which was retaken from the militants’ control last summer. Kept until now in Central Jail Peshawar, Sufi Muhammad has been shifted to Swat for the trial.

“He is being produced before an ATC judge at a detention centre near Mingora on Tuesday,” an official told The News while requesting anonymity. The decision to hold the hearing at a fortified place away from the court was made on security grounds.