Sufi Muhammad, born in Dir, is the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a Pakistani militant organisation with Deobandi learnings (declared a terrorist outfit and banned in 2002) vying for implementation of Sharia in Pakistan. It operates mainly in the Dir, Swat, and Malakand districts of North-West Frontier Province. Sufi Muhammad was jailed for sending thousands of volunteers to Afghanistan to fight the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. However, he was freed in 2008 after he renounced violence. He is the father-in-law of Maulana Fazlullah, who assumed the leadership of TNSM during Muhammad's imprisonment.
During the 1980s Sufi Muhammad actively participated in Jamaat-e-Islami, an islamist political movement. In 1992 he split from the group to form TNSM.
After the Taliban was ousted from power in Afghanistan in 2001, he organized thousands of militants to fight the Northern Alliance. When Muhammad returned to Pakistan, he was arrested.
Sufi Muhammad remained in prison until 2008 when he agreed in talks with the chief minister of the NWFP to use his influence to work towards peace in the region.
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