Situation in Swat still tense
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, May3, IRNA -- Situation in Pakistan insurgency hit Swat valley has again started deteriorating after the provincial government and TNSM have not yet been successful to implement Islamic laws in the area.
Under a compromise deal the banned ‘Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) had assured the provincial government that it will convince local Taliban to stop terrorism in the country while the provincial government had assured the organisation of abolishing prevailing laws in the entire Malakand Division including Swat and replacing them with Shariah law.
The government of Pakistan had been facing criticism of the west on activities of militants going on in Swat.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, has said that he next two weeks are critical to determining whether the Pakistani government will survive.
"The Pakistanis have run out of excuses" and are "finally getting serious" about combating the threat from Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists operating out of Northwest Pakistan, the general added.
The federal government has already linked enforcement of Shariah law in Swat with complete peace in the country and an end to the prevailing spate of suicide bombings that has claimed hundreds of innocent lives in Pakistan.
Swat cleric Sufi Muhammad has said that he was committed to peace in Malakand but linked it to the enforcement of Nizam-e-Adl and the establishment of Darul Qaza, an appellate bench at the high court level.
Sufi said there was a deadlock over the appointment of qazis between him and the NWFP government, because the government had not accepted the names he had recommended.
Sufi Muhammad rejected the judges nominated by the government, saying they were not eligible.
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar has said that the provincial government would go ahead with the establishment of the Darul Qaza, and appointment of Qazis on its own if Sufi Muhammad made no contact soon.
He said that the provincial government would enforce the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in Malakand division within two days.
Swat valley had been peaceful for the past two months after the peace deal and Taliban led by Maulana Fazlullah in Swat declared ceasefire after the agreement.
However, after some time they have again started their activities and wanted to enforce own laws in the region, and started attacking government buildings, courts and security forces.
Swat district is drifting towards complete anarchy as Taliban are ransacking government and private property and abducting police personnel.
Pakistan’s top military leaders resolved to support the government in showing “zero tolerance” towards militancy in Malakand division in a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC).
More than 50 Taliban were killed in a military operation to secure Buner, a district in Swat, army’s spokesman Athar Abbas has said.
In Buner, militants earlier this week captured police stations in three villages and have been holding hostage 52 police officers and paramilitary soldiers in the district.
Militants infiltrated into Swat in 2007 from strongholds on the Afghan border to the west to support cleric Sufi Mohammad.
Many in Pakistan’s government recognise that extremist elements pose a threat to its authority and must be brought under control.
Several past deals with militants have failed and the government has been criticised by the US for giving time to militants to re-group.
A peace pact signed by the Taliban and the NWFP government in May last year collapsed within months.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 463168
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