TNSM leader dies in security forces’ custody

[Naveed Yaseen]

BISHAM: Maulana Rahim Gul, one of the founding leaders of banned Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) and a prominent religious scholar, died in the security forces’ custody on Wednesday.

Maulana Rahim Gul, who was Khateeb of Jamia Mosque in Lilonai village, had been picked up by security forces some three weeks ago and was being interrogated in connection with Taliban activities in Shangla district.

Official sources said the Maulana had been on hunger strike for the last several days and he was shifted to District Headquarters Hospital, Alpuri, when his condition deteriorated on Tuesday night.

However, he could not survive and breathed his last in the hospital. Later, he was laid to rest in his Lilonai village. Late Maulana Rahim Gul was among the founding leaders of the banned TNSM and a close aide to TNSM chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad.

He was a fiery orator and was accused of having hand in Taliban’s entry into the Shangla district in 2007. The sources said some Taliban fighters had also taken shelter at his residence in Lilonai when they fled the area after ‘Rah-e-Rast’ operation was launched in Swat Valley.

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