"Instead of keeping his promises by taking steps for the sake of peace, and speaking out against terrorism, he did not utter a single word against terrorists,'' Iftikhar said in a news conference, adding that the cleric's stance ``encouraged terrorism. It encouraged violence.''
The military offensive in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas led some 2 million people to flee their homes and take refuge in camps and with relatives across the country. Iftikhar accused Sufi Muhammad of "again preparing to get more people killed'' and said: "We cannot let it happen. The price we have paid for the sake of peace, we cannot allow any person to disturb the peace.''
Iftikhar said Muhammad would be investigated regarding his role as mediator between the government and the Taliban, and that a case would then be made based on that investigation. Muhammad's son Azmat Ullah, 12, told The Associated Press that police arrived at his home in Sethi on the outskirts of Peshawar in four vans and took away his father and three brothers. ``My father and brothers went with them without offering any resistance,'' Ullah said.
One witness, local resident Mohammad Arif, said police fired a shot in the air to disperse a crowd that had gathered during the operation to arrest the cleric.