Pro-Taliban Leader Released by Pakistan

The pro-Taliban group seeks to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic law, which calls for severe restrictions on women and for the abolition of music and films. After U.S. forces routed the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, Mohammad was fiercely criticized for recruiting thousands of Pakistani boys and young men from poor villages to fight with little or no training.

Hakim Khan, a resident of the Buner district in northwest Pakistan, said his nephew joined the fight in Afghanistan at age 18, but soon wound up in prison, where he spent several months. Khan said Mohammad's release was an insult to the families who lost their sons, husbands and fathers in battle. "He does not deserve a heroic welcome," Khan said. "He should be treated like a criminal who played with the emotions of innocent people in the name of Islam and jihad. I wish people would throw stones at him upon his return."

Samina Ahmed, a Pakistani political analyst with the International Crisis Group in Islamabad, said the move to free Mohammad "bodes ill" for the push to rein in violence in the country's troubled northwest. She said that Pakistan's newly elected coalition government is setting a dangerous precedent by allowing Mohammad to return to his home and that the decision could erode efforts to get tough on the most recalcitrant extremists.

"Had Sufi Mohammad been tried, sentenced and imprisoned and served his sentence, then that would be understandable. But to release him on the dubious basis that it will appease militants into giving up arms is misguided," Ahmed said. "It means the ANP doesn't realize that appeasement doesn't translate into reconciliation."

Mohammad apparently continues to command respect among some of the province's top political leaders.

"Sufi is a citizen of Pakistan, and there should be negotiations with him and he should be heard," said Afzal Khan Lala, a senior ANP official.

"I belong to Swat and I was personally targeted by the militants here," Lala said. "Despite that, I'll be happy if peace comes to my region and this whole tribal belt, even at the cost of freeing Sufi Mohammad."

Mohammad's release came hours after Pakistani paramilitary troops clashed with fighters in the restive Khyber Agency region following the kidnapping of two U.N. Food Program workers Monday morning. The two men were recovered, but at least one paramilitary soldier was killed and seven others wounded in the fighting, said Ishrat Rizvi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Pakistan.

Ali reported from Peshawar.