Swat-Taliban chief’s mother, teacher denounce terrorism

PESHAWAR - Swat Taliban leader Mullah Fazullah’s mother and teacher have condemned terrorism, saying that it is high time for peace to prevail in the Swat valley.

Talking to reporters at the Swat Media Centre, Fazlullah’s mother said that she has not been in touch with her son for three years, and that she is unaware of his whereabouts.

She claimed that her son would not surrender to the forces even if she ordered him to.

“I know if I ask him to lay down arms and surrender before the security forces, he will never obey my orders,” The Daily Times quoted her, as saying.

Fazlullah’s teacher Waliullah Kabal-Girami said that while his student’s demand for the enforcement of sharia was right, the path he has chosen is inappropriate.

“Killing people, including women and children, in suicide attacks in an Islamic country was against the principles of Islam,” he said.

Meanwhile, the security forces also presented two female would-be suicide bombers before the local media in Swat.

Identified as Arifa, 14, and Rabia, 16, the girls said they were impressed by Fazlullah’s sermons on the Taliban’s FM radio, and thought he was fighting for the implementation of an Islamic system.

But after seeing the horrors of militancy they said they have realised that Mullah Fazullah has nothing to do with Islam. (ANI)