Muslim Khan’s profile

[Naveed Yaseen]

MINGORA: Muslim Khan, son of Mulla Abdur Rashid, was one among the top leaders of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was born in 1954 in the Koza Banda area in Matta tehsil, Swat Valley,.

He received early education from Kanju Dheri while did his intermediate from Jehanzeb College Saidu Sharif. During his stay in the college, he was the ardent students’ leader of the People’s Student Federation (PSF), the student wing of the Pakistan People’s Party.

Muslim Khan left studies halfway and opened electronics business in the main Mingora town. Later in 1992 he joined merchant navy as a sailor. But after sometime, he abandoned seamanship and shifted to Dubai and later to Kuwait. In the pursuit of well-paid jobs, he went to the United States where he worked as a painter from 1998 to 2002.

It was in 2002 that he returned to Swat. He was the staunch supporter of the banned Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) of Maulana Sufi Muhammad over all these years. Muslim Khan long-term association with Fazlullah, the chief of the Swati Taliban, developed when he purchased gadgets for his illegal FM radio transmission.

It cost him Rs14, 700 back in 2002 to buy devices for the FM radio channel, which soon was on air in the valley, preaching extreme Taliban ideology.

Fazlullah, Taliban chief in Swat, also known as Radio Mulla, was a skilled orator who used to mesmerize the residents of the valley through his speeches.

His speeches were so appealing that a large number of Swati people, particularly women even showered him with their gold ornaments as donation for the sprawling multi-storey madrassa (seminary) complex he was constructing in the Mamdheri village.

Muslim Khan was made the spokesman for militants in Swat in 2007, replacing Sirajuddin. He can speak English, Urdu and Arabic languages fluently besides his mother tongue Pashto. He went under ground after the military operation was launched in May last.

The Swat Taliban spokesperson was also accused of extorting money from the rich and other individuals of the valley, including doctors and businessmen as he would personally call them to comply or else face the consequences for defiance.

Muslim Khan and Mehmood Khan are among the tops leaders of the Taliban as the government announced head money amounting to Rs.10 million each. Mehmood used to be considered also among the top brass of the militants syndicate in Swat so much so that during the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Mohammadi chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad peace forays he would accompany the then commissioner of Malakand division Syed Muhammad Javid whenever he would go.

Besides Muslims Khan, who used to be the vocal and furious mouthpiece of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban in Swat, the other arrested leaders included Mehmood Khan, Fazal Ghaffar, Sartaj and Abdur Rahman.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=198098