| Muslim Khan Urdu: {{Nastaliq|مسلم خان | |
| Birth Place: | Kabal, NWFP, Pakistan |
| Allegiance: | Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan |
| Battles: | War in North-West Pakistan |
Muslim Khan (born 1954) is a captured Pakistani militant and former spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan chapter based in Swat and became the chief spokesman of the Swat Taliban in 2007.[1]
Born in Kabal Tehsil, Swat, in 1954 Khan started out as a student activist of a left-wing secular party in the 1960s, but became a religious extremist in the early 1990s, becoming a part of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi's leadership in 1994.[2]
In an interview with New England Foundation for the Arts, when asked about his usage of American-styled English and pronunciation, he revealed that he had lived for some time in Boston, Massachusetts.[3] He had spent 4 years in the USA and worked as a painter in Boston.[4] The BBC reported that Khan spoke Pashto, Urdu, English, Arabic and Persian, and had lived in or travelled across more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, Europe, the US and Asia.
In April 2009 he denounced any Pakistanis who disagreed with his interpretation of Islam calling them non-Muslims.[5] It was also revealed due to a telephone intercept that Khan had urged attacks on the families of soldiers. "Strikes should be carried out on their homes so their kids get killed and then they'll realise".[6] Before the start of the Army offensive against the Taliban, Khan claimed that his fighters controlled "more than 90 per cent" of Swat.[7]
After the 2009 operation in Swat he was still at large, vowing that his men will step up attacks.[8]
He was arrested on 10 September by the security forces of Pakistan [9] in the suburbs of Mingora.[10]
He was one of eight men sentenced to death by a military court on 28 December 2016 for terrorism and other offences.[11] [1] Khan's appeal before the Peshawar High Court was weakened following the Supreme Court's decision in Said Zaman Khan v. Federation of Pakistan.[12] His sentence was briefly stayed by the High Court on 24 May 2017, on the basis of a petition filed by his wife.