Pakistani Taliban Calls 10-Day Swat Cease-Fire
By VOA News
15 February 2009
The Taliban in Pakistan has declared a 10-day cease-fire in the northwestern Swat Valley out of respect for government talks.
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan announced the truce Sunday, shortly after his group freed a Chinese engineer held captive for six months in Swat.
Chinese state media say the engineer, Long Xiaowei, arrived safely at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad early Sunday. Khan said the engineer was released as a "goodwill gesture" for the government talks.
Local Pakistani officials and Taliban sympathizer Sufi Muhammad have been discussing the possibility of enforcing Islamic law in parts of Pakistan's northwest. Muhammad, a militant leader who fought in Afghanistan, was freed last year under another peace deal with tribal elders in northwestern Pakistan.
His son-in-law, pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah, is waging a violent campaign for Sharia law in the region.
The government struck a peace deal with Fazlullah last year, but the militants have continued their attacks. They are now largely in control of Swat Valley, a former tourist haven.
United Nations officials are trying to contact the kidnappers of American John Solecki, a U.N. refugee agency employee captured in southwestern Pakistan nearly two weeks ago.
On Friday, the kidnappers threatened to kill Solecki within 72 hours unless 141 ethnic Baluch women allegedly held in Pakistan were released.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik says he not aware the women are detained.
The kidnappers say they are from the previously unknown group, the Baluchistan Liberation United Front.
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